Improved Marketing and Aviation policies key to Tourism Development
CARIBBEAN tourism decision makers are being urged by industry stakeholders within and outside the Region to step up marketing initiatives; invest more in infrastructure; provide new attractions; review security and immigration measures and effectively coordinate aviation policies.

These were some of the issues that were addressed at the Caribbean Tourism Organisation’s State of the Industry conference in St. Kitts and Nevis that preceded this week’s annual Caribbean Week activities in Toronto, where marketing the Caribbean is the main focus.

The CTO’s Secretary-General, Hugh Riley, said the Canadian market continues to produce significant business for the Region and CTO members are not taking this market for granted.

“Our overall focus during Caribbean Week in Toronto is to continue to excite Canadians about the Caribbean at a time when the competition is stiffer. It’s our job to let them know that the Caribbean is still the best value for money and a place where they will receive the warmest welcome in the world.”

Riley hailed the St. Kitts conference as one of the most productive and engaging CTO events with significant discussion and decisions, chief among them the establishment of a Regional airlines task force, which he feels will provide the level of attention and importance that the Caribbean aviation industry deserves.

The task force will address problems affecting the large carriers from major source markets as well as coordination and collaboration among second -tier carriers such as Caribbean Airlines and LIAT, and more than a dozen third- tier carriers ferrying passengers from hubs to smaller destinations.

Newly appointed LIAT CEO Ian Brunton has disclosed that there are almost 40 unprofitable LIAT routes affecting 18 territories and gave notice that the airline “cannot continue to meet the cost of these social routes.”

The Caribbean fight against the United Kingdom’s discriminatory and damaging Air Passenger Duty (APD) will continue with the CTO working to keep the issue front and centre by ensuring new key players in the British administration, following a reshuffle by Prime Minister David Cameron, are aware of the impact of the APD on the economies of Caribbean tourism destinations. The CTO will intensify its APD campaign in London next month during the World Travel Market (WTM).
“We disagree with the British Government that aviation should be taxed at unlimited levels for balancing budgets,” outgoing CTO Chairman Ricky Skerritt remarked.

The CTO Secretary-General is concerned that Caribbean hotels are having to provide even more incentives to attract European visitors and will, in effect, absorb the APD.
With a charge of 81 pounds per person for economy passengers travelling from the U.K. to the Caribbean and 162 pounds above that class, there is growing concern that the profitability of the Region’s tourism industry could be squeezed even more.
The industry is struggling to maintain profitability as a result of considerably reduced disposable incomes in major markets where consumers are feeling the brunt of the continuing economic slowdown.
The CTO’s lobby has been bolstered by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC)’s President and CEO, David Scowsill, who declared that “taxation is destroying industry profitability”. He urged Caribbean governments to upgrade infrastructure and increase investment to drive jobs and GDP growth.
After setbacks to Regional marketing as one brand, efforts are being concentrated on the caribbeantravel.com website, managed by the Caribbean Tourism Development Company (CTDC) and geared towards producing more business for the Caribbean.

Guyana (17.9%) and the U.S. Virgin Islands (14.2%) are the only two countries registering double -digit increases in tourist arrivals for the first half of 2012 compared to a similar period last year. Other significant increases recorded for that period were St. Maarten (9.7%), Belize (8.5%) and Curacao (8.6%) while notable declines in arrivals were experienced by Montserrat (-11.2%), Grenada (-5.1%) and Barbados (4.7% up to August).
Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana, The Dominican Republic and St. Martin recorded double-digit increases in arrivals from the United States while Barbados and Montserrat had noticeable declines. Most CTO countries saw increases in arrivals from Canada with Belize and Curacao up by over 20 %. Not surprisingly, several destinations saw less European visitors.
For the first quarter of 2012, cruise passenger arrivals were significantly down in Grenada (-24.2%) and the British Virgin Islands (-18.2%) while St. Maarten recorded sizeable growth (17.8%).
Outgoing CTO Chairman Skerritt, who is St Kitts and Nevis Minister of Tourism and International Transport, has announced that the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) is exploring ways to rebuild summer cruising to the Region, which was considerably reduced.
Skerritt also identified, in addition to the global economic downturn, contributing factors to the significant decline in intra-regional travel: “… the high cost of travel tickets is a major deterrent; poor interline connectivity; inconsistency of service that our Regional airlines and airports deliver; the immigration barriers we erect; and the over-zealous obsession by our security officials to check and re-check our own Caribbean people to the point of what can sometimes be described as wilful harassment.”
“We must continue to plan strategically and act collectively across the public and private sectors and at the community level to ensure the continued dynamism and strengthened resilience of our Caribbean tourism product,” says the new Chair of the CTO’s Council of Ministers and Commissioners, USVI Commissioner of Tourism Beverly Nicholson-Doty.

To truly develop a winning tourism strategy, government and private sector industry players should heed the advice of the CTO Secretary-General: “We must assemble all the creativity, discipline and resources we have, and use them wisely for the good of the region.”
Such a strategy should include increasing human resources development to provide world-class experiences for visitors; rev
iewing over-the-top security measures; coordinating aviation policies; more aggressive national and regional marketing efforts and honouring financial commitments to the CTO to equip the organisation to deliver the programmes and services that tourism decision-makers mandate it to deliver.
(Sandra Ann Baptiste is a Business Consultant and Specialist in Caribbean Affairs).

PULL QUOTE:
Guyana (17.9%) and the U.S. Virgin Islands (14.2%) are the only two countries registering double digit increases in tourist arrivals for the first half of 2012 compared to a similar period last year.