(Barbados Nation) Government has been warned that the impending closure of the Almond resorts in Barbados can hammer the proverbial nail in the country’s economic coffin.
The warning came from Opposition Leader Owen Arthur and his party colleague MP Mia Mottley ahead of the planned closure of the all-inclusive Almond Beach Village and the proposed sale of Almond Casuarina and Almond Beach Club.
Speaking yesterday during the nomination meeting for the BLP’s St Thomas constituency branch at the Sharon Primary School, Mottley said that given the troubled state of the island’s economy Government had no choice but to do what was necessary to protect jobs at Almond Beach.
“Almond Beach is responsible for 60 000 tourists coming to Barbados yearly. That is one in ten tourists a year. If you close Almond, you are going to lose the airlift capacity.
“It doesn’t matter that Sandy Lane or whoever can take more in the short term because you didn’t have the planes flying to bring the people here,” she said.
