Tourism under threat from drugs and prostitutes says head of BHTA

Bridgetown.

The tourism industry in Barbados is being threaten from drugs prushers, prostitutes and vendors, this is the view of newly elected president of the Barbados Hotel & Tourism Association (BHTA) Patrica Affonso- Dass.

According to Affonso-Dass, the situattion does not augur well for tourism the country's main earner of  foreign exchange.

"The consequence to the visitor is secondary to consequence to our people and we let it out of hand , it will ultimately job loses. We spend thousands of dollars marketing St Lawrence Gap as a destination, telling visitors about it before they get here and when they arrive, you got six or seven guys, who on a daily basis, harass every single person who walks down there", Affonso-Dass told Trakker News.

She stated several tourists choose not to leave their hotel rooms because of offers sex, drugs and aloe.

The hotelier emphasized that the problem was not restricted to St Lawrence Gap but was mirrored in several arears frequented by tourists including Bridgetown, Holetown and the island's beaches.

Affonso-Dass suggested that not only the relevant laws be enforced but a more innovative way must be found to tackle the problem.