Flight capacity to Barbados will be restored to just under 80% of 2019 levels by the end of this year as the destination enjoys a swift recovery, according to tourism minister Lisa Cummins.
Speaking at World Travel Market, Cummins said sales to the Caribbean island “mushroomed overnight by 400%” when Barbados went on to the UK’s green list in June.
In the months since, air capacity has been restored to 60% of pre-pandemic levels while extra airlift and flight seats are being made available over the festive period.
British Airways offers flights out of Gatwick and Heathrow while Virgin Atlantic has routes out of Heathrow and Manchester. Aer Lingus began flights from Manchester to Barbados for the first time in October and Virgin’s first Edinburgh to Barbados service starts on December 5.
Barbados recently news that British Airways is to increase out of Heathrow and Gatwick to Bridgetown by 3,000 seats over December and January.
Cummins said: “The number of seats [to Barbados] is significantly higher than before. We will end up in excess of 2019 capacity. We are looking forward to the first quarter of 2022. We are expecting the end of the season to be extremely strong.”
She admitted the recovery was earlier than predicted. “This is pretty impressive. So many of the models said recovery would not be until 2023,” she added.
The destination is keen to promote flight connections from Europe to Barbados on flights via Frankfurt with Eurowings and via Amsterdam with KLM.
Cummins said the destination had worked hard to ensure Barbados stayed “top of mind” during the pandemic with consistent marketing and communications, while maintaining quarterly updates with tour operators.
Feedback from the trade based on current UK sales already suggested 2022 could be a record year for the destination, she added.
Current entry requirements mean vaccinated travellers have to do a PCR test up to three days before arrival. Under 12s take the vaccination status of their parents, while unvaccinated visitors must take a pre-arrival PCR test, quarantine for five days on arrival and then take a further PCR test.