Barbados and Venezuela Set Out a Multi-Destination Tourism Plan
Barbados · TOURISM
Key Facts
- —Signed Mia Mottley and Delcy Rodríguez agreed a joint declaration in Caracas on August 24.
- —Pending The tourism accord itself is promised within weeks, not yet concluded.
- —Arrivals Barbados logged a record 727,310 long-stay visitors in 2025, up 3.3 percent.
- —Weight Travel receipts equalled 16.9 percent of Barbadian gross domestic product in 2025.
- —Airline Conviasa, the Venezuelan state carrier, sits on the United States sanctions list.
A joint declaration in Caracas promises twin-country travel packages, with the tourism accord still to come.
Barbados and Venezuela have set out a multi-destination tourism plan, but the tourism agreement itself is not yet signed. The commitment sits inside a joint declaration signed in Caracas on Monday, August 24, by both leaders.
What the two governments actually agreed
Prime Minister Mia Mottley travelled to Caracas and met Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, on Monday, August 24. The two signed a joint declaration spanning energy, food security, fisheries, education, culture and tourism.
On tourism, the text says both sides intend to sign a bilateral agreement in the coming weeks. That accord is meant to raise visitor flows and launch multidestination packages.
Multi-destination tourism means one trip that takes in several countries, which then market themselves together. The multi-destination tourism plan would sell Barbados and Venezuela as a single Caribbean itinerary.
A binational joint commission will oversee the work and meet once a year in alternating capitals. Both foreign ministries are to report on progress every six months.
A ministerial meeting three days earlier
Venezuela’s Ministry of Popular Power for Tourism held a working meeting in Caracas on August 21. Tourism Minister Daniella Cabello received Aquinas Clarke, the Barbados ambassador to Venezuela.
Also present were Deputy Minister for International Tourism Marcos Medina and embassy representative Estefanía Latassa. Gustavo Díaz Aular, who runs the ministry’s Caribbean affairs office, joined them.
Cabello said she wants a Caribbean that promotes itself as a region, with destinations that complement rather than compete. The ministry called the result a roadmap covering air links, destination marketing and shared practice.
That meeting produced no signed instrument, and the ministry published no figures or timetable. It does show the multi-destination tourism plan was already in motion before the leaders met.
Flights between Bridgetown and Caracas
Conviasa, the Venezuelan state airline, began flying to Grantley Adams International Airport on September 30, 2023. Flight 3702 landed that morning and the carrier announced two weekly rotations.
Venezuela’s then transport minister, Ramón Velásquez, set them for Wednesdays and Saturdays on a 190-seat aircraft. He put the flight time between the two countries at about one hour.
That service was disrupted on January 3, when a Conviasa flight back to Caracas was cancelled. Mottley said 73 people were affected, alongside thirteen cancelled inbound flights that night.
The joint declaration frames its air commitments in anticipation of the reopening of Maiquetía International Airport. The multi-destination tourism plan therefore rests on a link that is not yet operating normally.
Neither government has published a schedule for restoring the Bridgetown service. The declaration instead names a Bridgetown-Porlamar-Caracas commercial route as the target.
The sanctions question around Conviasa
Conviasa is listed by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Treasury’s sanctions arm. It appears under the Venezuela programme tied to Executive Order 13884.
The entry names the airline by its legal title, Consorcio Venezolano de Industrias Aeronáuticas y Servicios Aéreos. Dozens of its aircraft are listed individually by tail number.
A listing blocks property under United States jurisdiction and bars dealings by United States persons. It does not by itself prohibit Barbados or its airport from serving the airline.
Neither the joint declaration nor the tourism ministry statement mentions the designation. Whether it shapes the tourism work is therefore unconfirmed.
Barbadian aviation officials have separately been watching a United States warning about Venezuelan airspace. The Federal Aviation Administration notice cited security conditions in the Maiquetía flight information region.
Barbados arrivals in 2025 and this year
Barbados recorded 727,310 long-stay arrivals in 2025, its highest total for any year. That was 3.3 percent above 2024, on Barbados Statistical Service data.
The United States supplied 246,528 of those visitors and the United Kingdom 224,952. Canada added 90,209 and the Caribbean Community, known as Caricom, supplied 98,336.
The first half of 2026 was flat, with 374,719 long-stay arrivals against 374,411 a year earlier. British arrivals fell 10.3 percent and American arrivals 2.6 percent.
Canada rose 13.7 percent, Europe 19.7 percent and Caricom 10.8 percent, helped by extra seat capacity. Visitors also stayed less time, with the average trip falling from 7.6 nights to 7.3.
Cruise traffic surged, with in-transit arrivals up 25.9 percent to 399,200 by June. The multi-destination tourism plan targets exactly the long-stay segment that has stalled.
What tourism is worth to the island
Travel receipts equalled 16.9 percent of Barbadian gross domestic product in 2025, on Central Bank of Barbados figures. Nominal output that year was BDS$16.03 billion (US$8.02 billion).
The Barbados dollar is pegged at two to the United States dollar. Tourism value added, which is about half of traded output, grew 3.1 percent in 2025.
This year the picture turned. Tourism value added slipped 0.5 percent in the first half, as shorter stays cut visitor nights by 3.3 percent.
Hotels held revenue up on price rather than volume, with daily rates 9.8 percent higher. Average occupancy eased to 68 percent as new rooms outpaced demand.
Real gross domestic product grew 1.4 percent in the first half of 2026, after 2.7 percent in 2025. That slowdown is the backdrop against which the multi-destination tourism plan is being sold.
The missing number on Venezuelan travellers
Neither government has published how many Venezuelans travel abroad each year. No official outbound series was available from Venezuelan statistical or tourism authorities.
Barbados does not report Venezuela separately either, folding it into an other markets line. That category held 34,321 visitors in 2025 across many countries.
Any estimate of demand from Venezuela is therefore unconfirmed. The multi-destination tourism plan has been announced without a published market-size figure on either side.
Where the regional bodies fit
Venezuela is not a member of Caricom, so this is a bilateral arrangement rather than a bloc one. Mottley has said Barbados aligns its foreign policy with the Caribbean Community first.
The Caribbean Tourism Organization, the region’s tourism development agency, has its secretariat in Barbados. It has published no statement on the two countries’ tourism talks.
Energy history hangs over the relationship. Mottley cited the San José Agreement and PetroCaribe in April as examples of past oil support for the region.
Barbados’ tourism minister, Ian Gooding-Edghill, is due to visit Venezuela within four months. A first binational tourism meeting is planned for 2027.
Frequently Asked Questions
Have Barbados and Venezuela signed a tourism agreement?
Not yet. They signed a joint declaration on August 24 that promises a separate tourism accord within weeks.
What is multi-destination tourism?
It is one trip covering several countries, marketed jointly by those countries. The multi-destination tourism plan would package Barbados and Venezuela together.
Can travellers fly directly between Barbados and Venezuela now?
Conviasa opened a twice-weekly Bridgetown route in September 2023, but service was disrupted in January. The joint declaration anticipates the reopening of Maiquetía International Airport.
Connected Coverage
Sources
- barbadostoday.bb
- nationnews.com
- www.mintur.gob.ve
- nationnews.com
- barbadostoday.bb
- barbadostoday.bb
- barbadostoday.bb
- www.treasury.gov
- cdn.centralbank.org.bb
- cdn.centralbank.org.bb
- www.centralbank.org.bb
- www.onecaribbean.org
- riotimesonline.com
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