Caribbean and Intra-Caribbean Tourism Current Situation and Perspectives Mercedes Silva Sustainable Tourism Specialist Caribbean Tourism Organization 8 th Meeting of the Special Committee on Sustainable Tourism of the Association of Caribbean States Port of Spain, April 4 th, 2002

CTO Membership Caribbean Map

OECS CountriesDutch West Indies AnguillaAruba Antigua & Barbuda*Bonaire British Virgin Islands Curacao Dominica*Saba Grenada*St Eustatius Montserrat*St Marteen St Kitts and Nevis* St. Lucia*French West Indies St Vincent and the Grenadines*Guadeloupe Martinique Other CARICOMHispanic Caribbean The BahamasCuba BarbadosDominican Republic BelizeCancun / Cozumel GuyanaVenezuela Jamaica Trinidad and TobagoUS Caribbean Haiti Puerto Rico Suriname US Virgin Islands Other Commonwealth Bermuda Cayman Islands Turks and Caicos Islands* CARICOM Caribbean Sub-regions

Visitor Expenditure in the Caribbean (US$ billion)

Economic Benefits of Tourism Caribbean received US$ 19.6 p billion in 2000 from Tourism Anguilla 56.6 Antigua & Barbuda Aruba Bahamas 1,814.0 Barbados Belize Bermuda Bonaire 55.8 BVI Cancun1,996.0 Cayman Is * Cozumel Cuba 1,857.0 Curacao Dominica 47.2 Dominican Rep. 2,860.2 Grenada 70.2 Guadeloupe e400.2* Guyana 59.0* Haiti 54.0 Jamaica 1,333.0 Martinique 404.0* Montserrat 9.0 Netherlands Antilles St. Kitts/Nevis 58.2 St Lucia St. Vincent 75.3 Suriname 44.0 T & T Turks & Caicos 238.0* USVI 1,156.8 Puerto Rico 2,387.9 Venezuela 1,197.2 Tourism Receipts US$ million * 1999

Employment in Tourism Industry CTO conservatively estimates that more than 900 thousand persons are directly or indirectly employed in the tourism industry.

Importance of Tourism to Caribbean Economies Visitor Expenditure as a Percentage of GDP Anguilla-75% Cayman Islands-60% St. Lucia-55% Antigua & Barbuda-49% Aruba-41% Barbados-36% St. Kitts & Nevis-31% Grenada-28% St. Vincent & G’dines-28% Jamaica-25%

International & Caribbean Visitor Arrivals

International & Caribbean Tourist Arrivals Growth Performance CARIBBEAN WORLD

International & Caribbean Cruise Bed Days Growth Performance Caribbean World Mediterranean

Growth in Tourist Arrivals to the Caribbean and Selected Sub-regions since 1991

Tourist Arrivals to the Caribbean by Sub Regions 2000

Tourist Arrivals to the Caribbean by Major Markets 2000 p

Room Capacity in the Caribbean

Occupancy Rates in the Caribbean (percent)

Challenges to Caribbean Tourism Diminished economic growth in many of our source market Reduced profitability of airlines More countries seriously adopting tourism as a viable development option Increased leisure travel options within our major markets Changing Consumer Patterns Changing distribution systems

Challenges After September 11th Safety and security the primary concern of travelers both in terms of Air travel and safety at the destination Shorter booking window, reduced from three months to as much as four weeks Economic downturn..increased un- employment

Growing Competition - Product Higher levels of service outside Caribbean Freer cross-border travel (notably Europe) Huge growth in cruise ship inventory and cruising destination Better scheduled airlift to other regions Lack of investment and innovation in product development in the region

The intra-regional travel market Maximizing the Potential

Overview of Intra-regional Travel 21.1 million Stay-Over Arrivals in million visitors from the U.S. 5.0 million visitors from Europe 1.5 million visitors from the Caribbean 1.2 million visitors from Canada

Top five destinations 2000 Travel Patterns Cuba – thousand Trinidad and Tobago – thousand Barbados – 87.4 thousand Dominican Republic – thousand Puerto Rico – thousand

Circuits of Travel Historical ties Regional groupings Language Air lift

Purpose of intra-regional travel Leisure Shopping Sports Social/cultural Personal business Visiting Friends and Relatives

Purpose of travel cont’d Medical Education Business

Competitive issues affecting the Caribbean Extra-regional travel Relative difficulty of air access

Competitive issues cont’d High cost of transport and accommodation Lack of knowledge/awareness

Ideas for pro-active marketing Airlines Stakeholder roles National tourism organisations Travel agents Accommodation sector

Marketing strategies Media relations Fairs and exhibitions Collateral material Direct marketing Special interest/niche markets Sales missions Advertising In-flight Travel trade

The way forward Product development Information Demand Market research Resources CommitmentMarketing

CTO’S Intra-regional travel project Awareness Marketing Product development Measurement

Towards the Future The Caribbean is perceived as a safe destination in comparison to its major competitors in the middle east and Asia. Declines in September estimated at 19% are leveling off and showing positive signals of recovery. Preliminary estimates suggest that arrivals to the region in 2001, declined by 2% compared to 2000 Efforts being made towards Sustainable tourism initiatives inclusive of improved product & human resource development Greater effort in marketing & research

Projected Growth in World & Caribbean Tourism ave. annual % ch. Caribbean World % share 2.6% 2.9% 3.0% millions