Notwithstanding the ravages of the COVID 19 malady that cut a swathe through visitor arrivals in the region, Guyana has been named by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) as being among eleven (11) countries in the Caribbean that surpassed their 2019 arrivals last year. The regional tourism organization has named Anguilla, Aruba, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, Turks & Caicos Islands, and the US Virgin Islands as countries in the region that achieved record-breaking levels for annual tourist arrivals.
In the instance of Guyana, the inflow of visitors last year was, in large measure, a function of the significantly altered international image which accrued to the country on account of its raised profile as a potential investment haven, arising out of its ‘world class’ oil find. Fellow Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member country, Jamaica, was also named among the countries to remove the obstacles placed in its way by the pandemic, further enhancing its credentials as a world class tourist by returning record earnings from the sector between January and February this year [2024]. In the course of the first two months of 2024, the country ‘s tourism industry raked in one million visitors and generated earnings of US$1 billion, a record for the CARICOM member country, according to the country’s Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett.
At a media briefing held on March 14 at the headquarters of the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) in Kingston, Bartlett declared that Jamaica’s persistence in continually upgrading its tourism bona fides in target markets had meant that the upward trajectory “continues even against odds.” According to Bartlett, arrivals for the period included more than 600,000 stopover visitors and in excess of 300,000 cruise passengers, figures which he said translates into “a seven per cent increase, in the case of stopover [visitors] for the year, and a 29 per cent increase for cruise… But the big news for us is that our earnings at $1 billion [are] up 8.8 per cent over last year,” Bartlett is quoted as telling the media in Kingston.
The positive picture of the state of the tourism industry painted by Bartlett is a microcosm of the wider sense of satisfaction with the recent performance of the sector elsewhere in the region. Back in March, the Caribbean Tourism Organiza-tion (CTO) declared that regional tourism had experienced an assertive year [in 2023] with visitor arrival numbers exceeding pre-pandemic arrival numbers by 0.8%, with the surge of extra regional visitor arrivals marking a significant recovery from the gloom that had been cast on the sector by the COVID-19 rampage and a ‘lift’ for a regional hotel sector that had been devastated by the drop in guest numbers.
In her recent regional Tourism Perfor-mance Review 2023, CTO Secretary General Dona Regis-Prosper, delivered the “Caribbean Tourism Performance Review 2023” had highlighted the overall resilience of the sector in the face of the COVID-19 rampage. Last year, 2023, the Caribbean reportedly outperformed most major global regions in terms of recovery, with tourist visits to the region reportedly climbing to 32.2 million. Significantly, 11 Caribbean destinations surpassed their 2019 arrival figures. These include Anguilla, Aruba, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, Turks & Caicos Islands, and the US Virgin Islands. Notably, several destinations achieved record-breaking levels for annual tourist arrivals.
The United States market led the recovery, with an estimated 16.3 million stay-over arrivals, reflecting a 12.7% annual growth rate. The Canadian market also showed impressive growth, with an increase of 46.1% compared to 2022, reaching approximately three million tourist visits by year-end.
