Caribbean tourism bounced back in 2012

It was a good year for Caribbean tourism as there was a 5.4 per cent increase in stayover visitors for 2012 and is expected to grow again in 2013.

Beverley Nicholson-Doty, chairman of the Carribean Tourism Organization, said 2012 was the best year the region has had in five years.

She made the remarks in a State of the Industry address in February.

Ms Nicholson-Doty said there are reasons to be “optimistic” for the future.

“This optimism is based on the positive signs of growth following earlier down years. We are optimistic because we see arrival numbers rising, particularly out of North America; we see hotel revenues moving in the right direction, albeit with moderate acceleration and we see tourist spend on the increase.

All the signs suggest Caribbean tourism is rallying. The region as a whole has regained ground lost in the heat of the global economic depression in 2008/2009. Last year, the Caribbean welcomed nearly 25 million tourists, that’s 5.4 per cent more than in 2011 and the largest number of stayover visitors in five years. This rate of growth outpaced the rest of the world, which saw arrivals increase by four per cent.”

She tempered her remarks by adding “the stark reality that some of our member countries are still hard pressed to recover, particularly those that rely heavily on the British market. This is because the UK’s travelling population continues to be daunted by an ailing economy and further applications of the onerous Air Passenger Duty.”

She said cruise tourism for the region was flat.

Ms Nicholson-Doty added: “The region’s performance in 2012 must be seen in context of the wider global situation. Debilitating effects of the world economic crisis which led to caution and austerity on the part of governments and consumers alike, still linger. These have manifested themselves in lower personal discretionary income and lower aggregate visitor spending.”

World tourism was up in 2012, showing an increase of 36 million tourists from 2011.

Hotels in Recovery

Ms Nicholson-Doty said hotel performance continues to show good progress as it “moves in a positive direction and has quickened a bit on previous years. For the second time in four years all four key hotel performance indicators were positive. The overall occupancy for the Caribbean increased by 7.1 per cent; average daily rate went up 4.8 per cent and total room revenues by 8.9 per cent. Revenue per available room also rose by 12.4 per cent. Should these trends continue, it certainly augurs well for 2013.”

She added that travel from the US was up 4.1 per cent to the Caribbean and was posting similar numbers with the pre-recession levels of 2007.

The CTO chair said: “US numbers increased in all of the reporting countries.”

She was particularly pleased with the numbers from Canada as arrival figures “showed the greatest buoyancy throughout the challenges of the recessionary period. In fact, arrivals from Canada have continued to move upward over the past five years. Arrivals went up by 5.9 per cent in this market in 2012. There was also no evidence of falling average visitor spending on the part of the Canadians.”

2013 outlook

The numbers from the UK remained depressed for the region showing a 10 per cent drop from 1.1 million visitors to 1 million.

Ms Nicholson-Doty said the outlook for 2013 shows that both the American and Canadian markets are expected to perform well.

“Travellers are still expected to hold a tight purse in light of continued uncertainty in their home economies and globally. UK travel to the region as a whole is expected to improve marginally at best.”

She added: “In a bid to stay afloat, hotels and other tourism service providers in the Caribbean will need to maintain the most attractive offers to further boost their rising levels of occupancy and general profitability in light of continued consumer austerity.

“Barring any international or regional unforeseen economic or social trauma in 2013, the indicators of Caribbean tourism performance should continue to move in a positive direction. Visitor traffic to the region is expected to increase by another four per cent to five per cent in 2013.”