BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — Barbados Tourism Minister Richard Sealy will this week lead a delegation to meet with airline officials and tour operators in the United Kingdom to discuss the potential impact of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.

Chief executive officer of Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc William Griffith, who made the announcement, said over the past month Barbados has been gathering information from all its major suppliers in the United Kingdom, and indications are that there has not been any short-term impact since the June 23 so-called Brexit vote.

Britons voted by a 52-48 margin to leave the European Union after 43 years, a decision that also led to the resignation of then Prime Minister David Cameron. He has since been replaced by Theresa May, Britain’s second woman prime minister.

Griffith said that the delegation, which will also include officials from the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association, “will be meeting very shortly with the leadership of BA (British Airways) and Virgin Airways as well as our top 10 tour operators in London to examine this issue.

“We will also be seeking to discuss new strategies towards preserving our market share so that we are strengthening our position to fiercely defend our airlift in this legacy market,” Griffith said.

The UK remains Barbados’ main source market, representing 36 per cent of visitors to the island.

Meanwhile, tourism officials are also looking to boost business locally during the traditionally off-peak summer season.

CEO of Barbados Tourism Investment Inc, Stuart Layne, said they are working to remove the “notion of seasonality” and promote the island as a year-round destination.

“There’s this concept in Barbados of a winter season, and you hope you get through the summer to get to another winter season. And what we’re hoping to work on over the next few years is removing that notion of seasonality as far as that is feasible. And therefore, the winter season, yes, that is important, but we will also do really well in the summer.”

Layne’s counterpart at the Barbados Tourism Product Authority, Dr Kerry Hall, told reporters that her department is also working to enhance the local tourism product to attract visitors throughout the year.

“We don’t want this destination to be seen as somewhere you come when it’s cold up north and when it’s warm down south. So we’re trying to create the types of experiences, a lot of things to do on the island… so that people will look at Barbados as somewhere where something is always happening, and it’s not necessarily ‘somewhere to go to spend my winter’, but it’s somewhere to go because it’s a fascinating destination,” Hall said.