Earlier this week an ABTA spokesman named Turkey and some countries in North Africa as destinations that are increasingly rivalling the Caribbean for tourist arrivals. “Any country that finds itself in competition with other winter sun destinations like North Africa needs to look very closer at its product and its pricing levels if it is to remain competitive,” the ABTA spokesman is quoted as saying.
With effect from November 1 the British Government will implement its decision to, in some cases, double its air passenger tax for some long haul flights, including flights to the Caribbean. The decision is being implemented in the face of strong but vain opposition from several of the Caribbean’s major tourist territories, sections of the British travel industry and British Members of Parliament who say that the Caribbean has been unfairly treated vis-a-vis other tourist destinations.
A decline in tourist demand for regional ‘sun destinations’ in the Caribbean could open up possibilities for increased visitor arrivals in mainland Caribbean territories like Guyana and Belize offering eco-tourist holiday packages though visitors to those territories from Europe are still likely to face high air travel costs. Additionally, Guyana particularly, will have to invest heavily in infrastructure building at its interior resorts and facilities if it is to cater to an increase in European tourists.
Meanwhile hopes for an early end to what has been a depressing 2009 for Caribbean tourist destinations have been dampened by the International Monetary Fund’s latest Regional Economic Outlook which predicts that the embattled sector is likely to face a further period of decline before it can begin to contemplate any meaningful recovery.
IMF estimates of a 10-15 per cent decline in tourist arrivals in the region comes on the heels of widespread job losses, hotel closures and significantly reduced investments in the tourism sector and according to the Fund’s report the crisis in the industry is likely to persist into 2010 since tourism depends on employment conditions in advanced countries which typically lag behind growth recovery.
Warnings that further bleak times lie ahead for the regional tourism sector have also come from the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) which has disclosed that 2009/2010 winter holiday bookings to the Caribbean are down by 19 per cent. ABTA has said that that such optimism as the region may still hold that the number of British tourists visiting regional destinations this winter will increase will be seriously affected by the British air passenger tax increase. Estimates of the likely impact of the additional tax for a family of four flying to the Caribbean place the additional cost at around 300 pounds sterling. The regional tourism industry desperately needs the upcoming winter season to be a good one in order to offset what has been a miserable year so far.
Little appears to have worked for Caribbean tourist destinations in their efforts to stave off the crisis. While IMF estimates indicate that regional hotel rates declined by around 7 per cent last year this has done little to alter the downwards trend. The IMF says that the outlook for regional tourism could be even further affected by spillovers from a relaxation of travel to Cuba by American tourists and a potentially sharp recovery in Mexico where the tourist industry has been significantly affected by swine flu.
