An in-depth focus on Caribbean issues
CTO targeting Canadian investors during Caribbean Week in Toronto

MEMBER countries of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) have an excellent and timely opportunity to lay the groundwork for attracting new Canadian investment in the region’s tourism and hospitality sector at the CTO’s inaugural investment conference in Toronto next month.Senior Canadian government officials will be participating in the June 26 Forum along with Canadian companies that will be expecting Caribbean tourism destinations to make a solid case to lure more Canadian dollars to the region.

At this event, one of the highlights of the annual Caribbean Week programme, Caribbean countries, upon request, will be afforded a one-hour window to pitch their projects to the Canadians.

Director of the CTO’s USA operations, Sylma Brown Bramble, has stressed that potential investors are not always looking for mega projects and the drive to attract new investment should not be focused mainly on large hotels and infrastructure projects.
One investment opportunity which she feels should be encouraged is more solar energy production, which could result in lower energy bills with the savings passed on to hotel guests.

In promoting the investment forum, the CTO has been highlighting the Caribbean’s stable political climate. A Conference Board of Canada official told me that in addition to this, Canadian investors will be looking to see growth in direct airline seat capacity from the key source markets (United States, Canada and Europe), an increase in marketing budgets, attractive tax incentives and an enthusiastic local work force.

Potential investors will also be looking for specific information on infrastructure, labour costs and the range, cost and quality of human resources available.
CTO’s Chairman Beverly Nicholson-Doty, who is Tourism Commissioner in the U.S. Virgin islands, will be joined at the opening session of the investment forum by top policy-makers in the federal government in Ottawa and the new provincial government in Ontario (elections are due on June 12).
“The Canadian market is critical to the Caribbean region,” said Nicholson-Doty, noting that the region is working strategically to increase arrivals and revenues from Canada.
CTO Secretary General Hugh Riley said the intent of the Toronto Investment Forum is to spread the word that the Caribbean is “open for business” with the message aimed at Canadian companies and entrepreneurs, the Canadian government, large financial institutions and the Caribbean Diaspora.

Riley is also urging the organisation’s member countries to highlight investment opportunities in non-traditional tourism sectors such as sports and medical tourism, an area in which some Caribbean countries have made tremendous strides by attracting more overseas visitors for recuperative and cosmetic surgery.
One area with tremendous potential for expansion directly linked to the tourism and hospitality industry is the agro-industry sector. The high level of food imports used by the region’s hospitality sector could be considerably reduced with expanded and diversified food production, which is often talked about, but much more investment is needed especially in countries like Guyana.
In this regard, the CTO Secretary General has underscored the importance of the Caribbean as a region producing enough to meet requirements of large-scale buyers and doing so consistently, with efficiency and to meet international standards.
A regional project that would help Caribbean farmers not just to develop the skills and use new technology to improve production, but to be involved in marketing and management, is in the pipeline.

The Toronto investment conference is timely since Canada and CARICOM are engaged in talks on a new trade and investment accord that will undoubtedly encourage more Canadians to invest in the region when it materialises.

The CTO investment conference comes at a time of marginal, but continued growth in the Canadian economy. The International Monetary Fund has forecast that the Canadian economy will continue to expand over the next two years, growing by 2.3 per cent this year and by 2.4 per cent in 2015.
The CTO has projected that overall visitor arrivals to the region in 2014 will be between 2 to 3 percent.
The CTO Secretary General noted that the tourism and hospitality industry was adversely affected by the bad weather during the winter which led to many flight cancellations.
Curacao (25.7%), Anguilla (20.7%) The Bahamas (11.7%) and St. Lucia (10%) registered significant increases in Canadian arrivals for the winter season while most CTO member countries saw marginal increases or declines in Canadian visitors.
St. Lucia (13.9%), Dominica (12.7%) and Belize (11%) recorded decent increases in U.S. arrivals.
Several CTO member countries saw significant increases in visitors from Europe, including Belize (26.6%), the Cayman Islands (17.7%), Jamaica (14.9%) and Antigua and Barbuda (10%).
As anticipated by CTO, many destinations experienced a healthy increase in cruise arrivals during the winter season, including Martinique (69.8%), Dominica (37.3%) and Belize (22%).
The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) is reporting that most of its member countries experienced a “respectable” winter season.
CHTA President Richard Doumeng told me that even though occupancy might have been at the same level of the 2013 season, the Average Daily Rate (ADR) was higher and it was overall a “rate recovery” season.
The main concern of CHTA members is adequate air seats. Some countries have felt the pinch of the loss of the American Eagle services to the region.
While the increase in the number of arrivals from Europe is welcome news, the CHTA notes that this is being compared to a period when there was a significant fall off in European visitors due to the British Air Passenger Duty (APD).
The CHTA continues to be concerned about the “astronomical” energy costs, which hotels across the region face as they try to balance high operating costs with room revenue.
In terms of attracting new investment into the sector, the CHTA President insists the region does not need more large hotels and mega attractions. Instead, existing properties and infrastructure need to be modernised and many destinations are in dire need of a “facelift”.
Doumeng pointed to growing interest by visitors to the region in historical sites and unique culinary experiences as well as Caribbean spices and vegetables.
He also advocated that more Caribbean countries promote sustainable projects and offer “green” incentives.
Not surprisingly, the hotel executive said feedback from investors attending the CHTA’s annual Caribbean Hotel Investment Conference & Operations Summit (CHICOS) is that there are too many agencies to deal with when pursuing investment projects. In particular, obtaining permits required to do business in many Caribbean countries is a major hassle as there are too many government agencies involved in the process.
It is critical that governments in the region take steps to address these concerns including ensuring that investment agencies have the clout, financial and human resources to efficiently facilitate investors and to engage in effective international marketing.
Jamaica (JAMPRO) and Barbados (Invest Barbados), which do an excellent job in both facilitation and international marketing, have highly trained investment promotion specialists with sector expertise, both at home and abroad, and significant marketing budgets.
(Sandra Ann Baptiste is a Business Consultant and Specialist in Caribbean Affairs)

(By Sandra Ann Baptiste)