The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) has given the recently hurricane-ravaged regional tourism industry ‘four stars’ for what it described in a media pronouncement as the “extraordinary resilience” it demonstrated in the wake of Hurricane Beryl which created an unprecedented level of disruption to normal life in those territories. The CHTA’s assessment took into account the heavy dependence of some of the hurricane-hit islands on revenues garnered from visitor arrivals, on the one hand, and the devastating assault on the region, on the other, that targeted some of the key pillars of its tourism sector.
An August 5 CHTA assessment of the ruins and attendant disruption left in the wake of the hurricane noted that despite the “initial impact of the storm” when the hurricane hit on July 1, the region has since experienced “a remarkable turnaround, driven particularly by its largest market, the United States.” The CHTA assessment, reportedly culled from Travel Keys, a global provider of travel trends and insights, reveals a “swift rebound in tourism, most notably from the United States” an outcome which the statement says, “shows the Caribbean’s impressive ability to recover and adapt”.
The CHTA said that an analysis of data is ongoing and that the results will be shared with the region in another report. The report names Grenada and Jamaica as “destinations which were in the storm’s direct path,” as territories which “saw more pronounced falls, the former experiencing a 14 per cent decline in bookings and the latter a 24 per cent drop.”
“The swift rebound in bookings from the US, our largest source market, underscores our region’s enduring appeal. This rapid recovery not only highlights our industry’s resilience and strength but also reaffirms our unwavering commitment to overcoming challenges,” President of the CHTA Nicola Madden-Grieg was quoted as saying.
