Stakeholders in the Eastern Caribbean’s travel sector are responding to calls from tourism players to improve connectivity within the subregion, at least, among English-speaking Windward Islands.

United Kingdom-based airlines Virgin Atlantic on Wednesday launched routes between Barbados and Grenada and Barbados and St Vincent in an effort to make “a wider variety of island destinations even more accessible”.

Announcing the new services in May, Virgin Atlantic said the introduction of the new routes comes at a time when the airline is increasing flights from its hub at Heathrow Airport in London to the region.

“The new inter-island services are set to provide both international and local customers more opportunities to explore the Caribbean and each island’s unique personality,” the carrier stated in a press release, adding that the new routes offer customers “a reliable full-service option for island hopping”.

In the initial phase, Virgin Atlantic will provide twice-weekly service from Barbados to the other two islands, and come October, will increase the frequency of flights to three times a week.

Flights from the Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados to St Vincent, and vice-versa, will be on Wednesdays and Sundays, while the route to and from Grenada will be active on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

According to Rikke Christensen, vice president, Network and Alliances at Virgin Atlantic, “…We’re thrilled to be bolstering our offering further. Our new inter-island flying will provide transatlantic customers with increased opportunities to experience the unique characteristics of each island, as well as provide a reliable regional service for our local passengers, with the best customer service out there.”

He continued: “The Caribbean is [a] hugely important part of our leisure programme and is incredibly popular with our Virgin Atlantic Holidays customers.”

Coinciding with the Virgin Atlantic announcement, managing director of the Trinidad and Tobago-based Maritime Consultants, Tore Torsteinson, shared in a LinkedIn post plans to revive nautical connectivity with the establishment of Windward Ferries. The aim, he said, is to connect Trinidad to the Windward Islands in the Eastern Caribbean.

“Windward Ferries will establish a combined passenger and cargo ferry service in the lower Eastern Caribbean. Apart from passengers, Windward Ferries will load cargo such as containers (20’ & 40’) on chassis roll-on, roll-off, pallets, oversize items, trucks, machinery, [and] cars. Most of the cargo originates from Trinidad, mainly containers,” the LinkedIn post outlined.

“Windward Ferries will introduce the first RoPax Line between Trinidad, Grenada, St Vincent, Barbados and St Lucia,” it added.

While Torsteinson believes the movement of goods on the ferry will contribute to increased trade and commerce on the island, he also argued that the freight service can also redound to reducing the cost of living and improve living standards. Moreover, he also contended that, based on various studies conducted, the ferry service can contribute to economic growth in regional tourism.

“The ease of travel and affordable travel for regional people wishing to travel from A to B will create a large group of travellers who never contemplated the use of airlines. The containerised cargo will be an express door-to-door service, which will make the freight more economical, and hopefully reduce the cost of living in our area,” he said.

He further pointed out that governments in the subregion stand to gain up to 17 per cent in value-added tax, while port operators, taxi operators, haulage companies, restaurants, hotels and retail will also benefit.

Tickets and freight will be charged in the respective local currency — TT dollar, Bajan dollar and Eastern Caribbean dollar. Ticket prices will cost about 60 per cent less than airline travel, Torsteinson shared.

Among the amenities Windward Ferries plans to offer are sleep-in cabins that can accommodate up to four guests, a restaurant, a bar, a nightclub, and duty-free stores.

Both the introduction of the Virgin Atlantic weekly inter-island flights and the revival of a ferry service come at a time when the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) and Caribbean Tourism Organization have called on regional governments to find solutions to the dearth in intra-regional travel.

The situation was exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic when LIAT Airlines — operated by a consortium of governments — fell into bankruptcy and, as part of a restructuring, reduced its schedule from 500 weekly flights to just 50. Just last month Nigeria-based Air Peace acquired 70 per cent in LIAT, leaving the Antigua Government with 30 per cent.

During last month’s staging of the Caribbean Travel Market CHTA, president Nicola Madden-Greig pointed out that regional carriers need to engage in joint strategies to increase airlift and promote an aggressive strategy for multi-destination packaging working with international carriers. She also noted that while there was heightened demand for Caribbean travel, the persistent issue of air connectivity remains a challenge for much of the region’s destinations.

“Working with the intergovernmental Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) we will, however, continue to advocate for sufficient airlift coming into the region. This is important for the Caribbean to promote intra-regional and multi-destination visitation,” she said.

Similarly, chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s Council of Ministers and Commissioners of Tourism, Kenneth Bryan, who also serves as the Cayman Islands’ minister of tourism and transport, commenting on the region’s performance in 2022 and outlook for 2023 back in March, said the organisation was committed to addressing the nagging issue of air connectivity, a complex one that has been exacerbated by the re-evaluation of airline business structures and the global pilot shortage.