"The state of the Caribbean industry is fantastic," said Nicola Madden-Greig, president of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), at the second edition of the Caribbean Travel Forum, an event held yesterday prior to the start of the Caribbean Travel Marketplace, where Madden-Greig provided the first brushstrokes of her diagnosis on the health of the region's tourism sector.
Thus, and following the theme of the congress, "Tourism: the key driver of generational wealth for Caribbean citizens," the president reflected on the current outlook for tourism in the Caribbean, claiming the achievement of being the leading region in terms of tourism recovery worldwide.
Likewise, and just a few months after praising the tourism situation at last year's Caribbean Travel Marketplace - held in October of last year - Madden-Greig once again presented with figures the resilience of the sector, practically reaching or even surpassing the pre-pandemic data.
The number of visitors in this first quarter of the year in several Caribbean countries reflect that recovery, with destinations such as the U.S. Virgin Islands - +17% -, the Turks and Caicos Islands - +12% -, Martinique - +11% - or the Dominican Republic - +4% -, among others, exceeding 2019 figures at the same time of the year. "It has been a promising start to the year," remarked the president.
In addition to these data, Madden-Greig wanted to highlight the example of Aruba, "a success story", thanks to the recovery of the airlift at the end of 2021 by 79% compared to 2019 levels or the recovery of the number of visitors in 2022 by 98% compared to 2019 data.
However, it was also important to recall the multiple difficulties that the region continues to face in terms of tourism, mainly the deterioration of air connectivity between Caribbean countries, the rising costs of travel or environmental alarm, aspects that affect several of the Caribbean countries. "This event is about ensuring that all Caribbean countries grow. We are more than capable of overcoming these obstacles," said Madden-Greig.
In that sense, it was essential to reflect on the problems within the air supply and connections between Caribbean countries, as well as the importance of betting on multi-destination packages.
If in the last edition we talked about the creation of a Caribbean product that brings together the best of everything that unites the countries of the region, on this occasion we mentioned initiatives such as the GoWild Summer Pass, ALL-YOU-CAN-FLY, a program that includes unlimited travel until September 30 to more than 75 destinations in the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America.
As was the case last year, the arrival of travelers from Latin America continues to increase, although the United States remains the main market for Caribbean destinations. The president also highlighted the forecast of arrivals for the spring and summer season, which are up respectively by 4% and 10% compared to March 2019 and the June-August period of the same year.
As far as Europe is concerned, there is still some work to be done, a situation largely caused by aspects such as the protests in France or the situation in Ukraine, which has led to a slowdown in demand. Added to this, fares for travel to the Caribbean have increased in certain European destinations excessively compared to 2019 prices - from Amsterdam by 92%, from London by 46% and from Paris by 40%.
And at the press conference to inaugurate the 41st edition of the Caribbean Travel Marketplace, the president took the opportunity to delve deeper into the situation of the Caribbean tourism sector, beyond the figures. Aspects such as the impact of the climate situation on the island or the integration of the local population in the industry came to the fore.
"The Caribbean has a very diversified offer; after the pandemic, people want experiential, wellness or adventure tourism, and that's something we know quite a bit about in the Caribbean," he said of the region's current offer.
"We are working with our partners to get airfares down," he said, referring to the work with the airlines, with whom he also intends to "make sure we can create more events and activities in the region. Events are a great opportunity over the Caribbean," Madden-Greig stressed.
"We pay attention and make sure that development in the country is inclusive. In the past, the ownership of the industry was mainly foreign, something that changed after the pandemic, and we have seen a resurgence of interest in being part of the tourism product," she said, referring to the impact of the tourism industry on the local population.
This detailed analysis ended with the observation of other markers, such as cruise arrivals, which in 2022 represented five times the figure reached in 2021, with 19.2 million visitors through this means, or the impact of inflation, with up to 68% of respondents claiming to change their travel plans if prices increased.
