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The road to recovery - Caribbean Tourism

Posted by CaribShout on October 9, 2009 at 10:29pm

Recession-hit Caribbean tourism destinations are still struggling to overturn what have over the past several months been declining prospects. But the signs are better globally, and the region expects that to filter down to its own industries sooner rather than later. At the height of the recession destinations including the Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda and St Lucia found themselves sending home hundreds of hotel employees in a bid to keep afloat in what threatened to turn into really desperate times. And while the worst could be over, things haven't exactly turned rosy yet in these islands in the sun intent on attracting tourists from North America, Europe and elsewhere. The region can take heart from United Nations World Tourism Organisation data that shows some moderation in declining international arrivals by air for the first half of this year. Coupled with that, the head of the world's second largest cruise company, Royal Caribbean, has suggested that the cruise tourism sector is stabilising. Tourism leaders from 142 countries met this week in a World Tourism Organisation forum in Kazakhstan to endorse a roadmap for recovery in a bid to boost global travel. Tourists

Numbers expected to pick up slowly The organisation said international arrivals declined by four per cent in July this year, a relative improvement when compared to decreases of 10% in May and seven per cent in June. Rallying call The meeting called on world leaders to prioritise tourism in the economic agenda and use it as a vehicle to create and sustain jobs. Geoffrey Lipman, an Assistant Secretary General of the World Tourism Organisation: "Our sector can make a significant contribution to the international efforts to sustain and stimulate global recovery". While Caribbean tourist destinations are targeting recovery, Haiti with its social and economic programmes, is now taking a hard look at its own tourism potential. Food price riots, gang warfare, kidnappings and other acts of social upheaval have plagued the country in recent times but officials say with the help of the UN Peacekeeping Mission there is now greater stability. Haiti's secret weapon, Bill Clinton The former American President Bill Clinton, the UN's special envoy to Haiti, while wrapping up his latest visit to the French-speaking Caribbean nation, urged tourists to make Haiti one of their destinations in the near future. In Port au Prince officials are banking on an ultra-modern ocean liner and a 19th-century mountaintop fortress built by a slave rebellion leader to help jump start their plans to revive tourism in the poorest nation in the Americas. A key element of the hoped-for renaissance may be close to fruition. Haitian Tourism Minister Patrick Delatour said the government recently signed a deal with Venezuela for an international airport, Haiti's second, in Cap-Haitien, its second-largest city. And starting in December, Royal Caribbean Cruises will send its new Oasis of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world, to a weekly stopover at the northern beach resort of Labadee, another important step forward for a Haitian tourism economy that crumbled under years of political turmoil. Prospects for recovery Back at the Kazakhstan conference tourism leaders said conditions in the market were starting to indicate stronger prospects for a recovery in 2010. The picture appears not dissimilar when it comes to cruise tourism. The chief executive of Royal Caribbean Cruises, Richard Fain, said the sector had touched bottom and was now stabilising. But he remained cautious about overall prospects, saying questions linger about when a rebound will occur. For the Caribbean the next few months could be telling, in terms of just how strong a recovery Caribbean tourism can make in the prevailing climate. It's something high level hotel and tourism leaders will be able to assess when they meet in Puerto Rico in May of next year for the 14th Annual Caribbean and Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference.

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