Much is riding on the success of the island’s winter tourist season which officially began yesterday and runs until mid-April.We are aware of the untold damage inflicted on the sector during the COVID-19 pandemic from mid-2020 into late 2021, before we began to witness a rebound in international tourism and travel.In fact, at the beginning of 2020, the local economy was set for a major recovery after several years of contraction and anaemic economic activity, when the pandemic turned everything on its head.As Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados Cleviston Haynes reported, the tourism sector was “buoyant and the prospect of substantial new private sector investments were on the horizon”.The pandemic wiped out many of the economic and social gains and traumatized many households not only through illness and death, but financial ruin.
