Tourism moving into growth phase after pandemic

The Caribbean’s tourism industry continues to recover faster than in any other region.

President of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) Nicola Madden-Greig said that based on data on international inbound flights for 2023, while the total tourism market is still 31 per cent under pre-COVID levels, this region is one per cent below its 2019 figures.

“The Americas overall is still behind by eight per cent, Europe by 25 per cent, Africa and Middle East -4 per cent and in Asia Pacific -54 (per cent). So we continue to watch this trend as we move out of recovery and into growth,” she stated.

The most resilient destinations – US Virgin Islands, St Maarten, Turks and Caicos, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Dominican Republic, Curacao, Jamaica, Aruba and Puerto Rico, are already above or at 2019 levels, she revealed.

Delivering the CHTA’s 2022 Performance and 2023 Outlook Survey Results via Facebook Live on Wednesday, she noted that Panama City is becoming a regional hub for the Caribbean. 

“There is a shift out of Miami into South America to travel to the Caribbean, and they’re going through Panama. The fastest growing origin markets are Colombia, Argentina and the US for the Caribbean. So Colombia, we see, is 50 per cent up, Argentina 15 per cent and the US up seven per cent in terms of growth,” she continued.

Nicola Madden-Greig said a strong spring and summer performance is also predicted by air travel bookings.

“Spring and summer are set to surpass our 2019 levels, which is great news. We’re looking at a 20 per cent projection for spring and that is for the March to May period versus the same period in 2019. For summer, we’re looking at a 48 per cent increase for the June to August period over the June to August period for 2019.

“And this is based on air ticket data that has been booked already. So there is a very positive growth in the summer ahead for us,” she added.

On the topic of airlift, she said the top airlines have rebounded in terms of connectivity, with some already above 2019 in terms of capacity.

While a similar picture was painted regarding hotel occupancy, the CHTA head said employment in the sector remains a challenge.

“The challenge that we are seeing is definitely an increase in labour costs… As labour shortages affect the Caribbean and the rest of the world, we are seeing a lot of our great employees being recruited, leaving the region and going to North America and other areas. We are also seeing that our productivity levels have decreased somewhat. There is a lot of training that is required and as new persons enter the industry, then that too will increase our labour costs,” Madden-Greig indicated. (JB)