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Sunbury Plantation House,

one of Barbados’ historic attractions, was reopened  after undergoing major renovations.  

New owner Martin Ince, of Foster & Ince, had promising to create on its reopening a world-class attraction. Ince bought the 300-year-old property, located at Oldbury, St Philip, last year.

Twenty-five workers, some whom have been employed at Sunbury for the past 23 years, were severed and would get an opportunity to return when Sunbury reopens.

“ We have to do pretty major renovations during the summer of 2018 and we will announce the reopening date during the summer,” he said.

Without going into details, he revealed that there would be additions to the plantation house, but the grand architecture would remain intact.

“It is the only plantation open house in Barbados that is completely opened as a business attraction on all three floors – that is going to remain unchanged. We are going to be sprucing things up and making additions to the property, improve the product that was there and make it into a world class attraction,” the tourism executive said.

Sunbury, which was built in 1660 and still features mahogany antiques, old prints and a unique collection of horse-drawn carriages, has served as a major tourist attraction. It also has a restaurant and bar and was used for weddings and other functions.

Sunbury was built by Matthew Chapman, one of the early English planters on Barbados. It was bought and restored by late optometrist Dr Keith Melville in 1981 who opened it to the public four years later. ( internet information )

   Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Amor Mottley receiving a gift of a painting of Sunbury Plantation Great House from New owner Martin Ince during the official opening ceremony today.

  TOURISM TO BE DRIVEN BY PUBLIC/PRIVATE SECTOR

PARTNERSHIPS

        From next year, the marketing of Barbados’ tourism product will be driven more by  public/private  sector  partnerships,  as  Government  moves  away  from  being  the major sponsor of tourism marketing. And,  Minister  of  Tourism  and  International  Transport,  Kerrie  Symmonds,  has indicated that within the coming days, the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. would be going into a public/private sector partnership.

    This,  he said,  was  being  done  “to  draw  out  of  our  private  sector  the  best  and the brightest and the

most competent, and to give them all of the encouragement and impetus  to  bring  Barbados’  tourism  product  along  with  them  under  their  careful  

guidance and leadership”.

      Speaking  during  the  official  reopening  of  the  Sunbury  Plantation  Great  House last Friday, Mr.Symmonds explained that from next  year, Government would seek to withdraw  from  doing  the  things  it  was  historically  known  to  do  for  tourism  and  rely more on the private sector and individuals to use their initiative, capital, connections, and influence to help build out Barbados’ tourism product.

     “We ask you to reflect on how best you can contribute in this partnership.

It  is  not  a  partnership  in  the  traditional sense;  it  is  a  partnership  that  is  about Barbadians  and  friends  of  Barbados  working  towards  making  the  key  commercial effort  in  Barbados  the  best  effort  that  Barbados  can  offer  the  world,”  the  Minister pointed out.

      He  added  that  the  public/private  partnerships  would  be  characterized  by initiatives similar to that of the reopening of the Sunbury Plantation Great House.

       The Tourism Minister noted that there were several other players in the country who had put a lot of effort into building out their own areas of activity.  

“I ask you to think about this – whether you are into manufacturing; whether you

are   into   the   commercial/retail sector;  whether   you   are   into   the   hard   concrete construction  sector;  you  must  remember  that  those  sectors  take  place  in  jurisdiction Barbados.

     “And  jurisdiction  Barbados  is  ever  relying  on  tourism,  and  tourism  therefore  is indirectly or directly, depending on what you do, relying on your sector of activity.  

    All we will be asking in a public/private partnership as we go forward is for you to reflect on  how  your  sector  can  help  serve  to  build  out  the  destination  Barbados  in  a  better way and how destination Barbados’ tourism interest can be enhanced in some way

by partnering  directly  or  indirectly  with  the  sector  that  you  are  interested  in,”  Mr. Symmonds said.

     He  stressed  that  without  exception  every  sector  of  commercial  activity  in  Barbados impacted the island’s tourism product.

( JRB /BGIS )  

BARBADOS/OAS AGREEMENT TO SAFEGUARD HERITAGE

    Barbados entered into a Cooperative Working Agreement with the Organization of American States (OAS) on December 3, to identify all of the country’s land, marine and underwater heritage assets.

   This  was  disclosed  by  Minister  of  Tourism  and  International  Transport,  Kerrie  

Symmonds,  as  he  addressed  the  reopening  of  the  Sunbury  Plantation  Great  House,  

last Friday.

    That arrangement, he said, would allow Barbados to identify its heritage assets

and list and safeguard them in the form of a national register of assets

     “The  fact  of  the  matter  is  that  as  we  live  in  a  jurisdiction  that  is  threatened  by  

hurricanes  every  year,  increasingly  threatened  by  earthquakes,  and, increasingly,

threats of volcanic eruptions at sea are likely to cause a tidal wave, we have to think in

terms  of  how  we  protect  and  treasure  our  historical  assets  and  also  be  able  to  

replicate them in the event that such a need arises,” he explained.

    And, he  noted  that  Barbados  was  able  to  partner  with  the  OAS  through  the  

Ministry of Culture to enter an agreement, for which the framework is already set and

the necessary funding in place.

    “We  are  in  position  to  know  and  to  catalogue  and  safeguard  those  assets

wherever they may be found,” he stated.

    Describing  the  Sunbury  Plantation  House  as  one  of  Barbados’  historical  treasures,  the  Minister  noted  that  it  was  built  in  1660,  is  now  358  years  old  and features a 28-

seater mahogany dining table that is 270 years old.

    “It is a treasure that appeals in a significant way to the market in Europe where people  spend  large  amounts  of  money  going  to  Germany,  England,  [and]  France,  to  

experience  heritage  trails;  to  experience  the  museum  pieces ;  to  experience  the  

antiquity of Europe; and here we are in Barbados offering to Europe a tourism product

that can stand as an equal to virtually anything that they have over there.

      And that is not to overstate the case, ” he said.

     The Minister stressed that from 2019, Barbados’ tourism product was going to be  characterized  by  the  ownership  of,  and  telling  the  story  about  the  rum  industry  in  

Barbados.

     “We want every visitor who comes to this country to recognize that in the same way  you  can’t  go  to  Florida  without  hearing  about  Mickey  Mouse,  you  can’t  come  to  Barbados without hearing about rum; in the same way you can’t go to England without hearing about the Westminster system of government; you must not be able to come to Barbados without experiencing the story and the history and the heritage and all of the antiquity associated with the rum industry,” he stated.

    Mr.  Symmonds  called  on  stakeholders  to  embrace  those  things  which  were  

unique   to   Barbados’   history,   as   they form  part  of  the  heritage  tourism  effort.  

(JRB/BGIS)

 Friday 14th December  2018 -  Sunbury Plantation House, Sunbury, St.Philip, Barbados     SUNBURY PLANTATION GREAT HOUSE REOPENS.