Written by Sandra Ann Baptiste
PUBLIC and private sector tourism industry stakeholders from across the Region are meeting in Martinique for the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) annual State of the Industry Conference against the backdrop of a slowdown in tourism arrivals to the Caribbean for the first half of this year, compared to the same period last year.

Tourism industry performance; a brand new regional marketing programme; air transportation issues, including airlift from major markets to the Region; strategies to ensure consistent service delivery standards across the Caribbean; boosting intra-Caribbean tourism and using technology to drive profitability, are some of the key agenda items at SOTIC 13, which will be preceded by CTO business meetings.
Though arrivals slowed, the accommodation sector across the Region is performing better than it did last year. The CTO’s 32 member countries recorded an increase in hotel occupancy rates by 3.5 per cent from January to May this year. Room rates were up by close to four per cent while revenue per available room is about $150, 11 per cent more than the same period in 2012.
Close to 11.5 million tourists visited the Caribbean for the first half of the year. Thirteen of the 23 destinations for which the CTO has received statistics recorded increases in arrivals, with five countries growing faster than the world average of six percent.
The CTO reports that the Dutch Caribbean performed the best during the first half of 2013, followed by the US Territories and French Caribbean. St. Vincent and the Grenadines (-10%), the Bahamas (-8.6%) and Barbados (-6.7%) registered declines in arrivals while most other countries saw marginal increases or declines.
There continues to be recovery in arrivals from the U.S., which is still the Caribbean’s leading supplier. Arrivals from the U.S. overall were up by 3.5 per cent over the same period last year. Grenada, St. Lucia and The Dominican Republic registered the largest increase in arrivals, while Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados and St. Lucia recorded double-digit declines in U.S. visitors. Guyana’s tourism performance is not included in the CTO’s industry analysis, but in August the country reported a nearly 12 % increase in overall arrivals.
For the Region as a whole, Canada, which has been a growth market for six years, slowed by just over one per cent for the first half of this year. Despite this, Grenada (54.5%), Antigua and Barbuda (28.6%) and Belize (10.9%) experienced double-digit increases. Barbados, The Bahamas and Suriname received less Canadian visitors compared to the same period last year.
Not surprisingly, the European market continues to be weak, with arrivals down by nearly six percent. Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada and Suriname registered some of the largest declines in European arrivals.
Other markets contributed 26 percent of the total arrivals, an increase of over four percent by mid-year 2013. The CTO has noted that this includes intra-Caribbean traffic and from “the growing and very promising Brazilian market.”
The CTO has described cruise performance in 2012 as “flat”. There was a decline of 1.7 per cent in cruise arrivals between January and May this year when 11.25 million cruise passengers visited Caribbean destinations, compared to 11 million during the same period last year.
Chairman of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), Jamaican hotelier Josef Forstmayr, told me Jamaica recorded good growth throughout the summer and is expecting this trend to continue in the Fall and Winter. Forstmayr, Managing Director of Roundhill Hotel and Villas in Montego Bay , projects that Jamaica will achieve a three per cent overall growth in visitor arrivals in 2013.
“We are all excited about the SOTIC Conference in Martinique. We all support the efforts of CTO fully in putting a focus on best customer experiences. We all need to raise the service levels and try to exceed guest expectations in all we do, from the best arrival experiences at our airports, to the taxis, the service in our hotels and attractions and caring for the environment,” Forstmayr said.
He identified as major challenges facing the industry affordable airlift, high operating costs and taxes, and a high level of bureaucracy hindering intra-regional travel such as excessive security and visa and other entry barriers. In addition, Forstmayr believes more attention needs to be paid to competition from the cruise ship industry and Indian Ocean region, especially for European visitors.
CTO Secretary General Hugh Riley says the upcoming conference has attracted a blend of regional and international experts who will provide best case practices and winning strategies on a wide range of topics critical to the growth of regional tourism, with a view toward the development of a sustainable tourism industry that will position the Caribbean as the most desirable, year-round, warm weather destination by 2017.
Among the high-level speakers is a leading US security official, John Daly, a Regional Director at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), who will present some of the innovative methods the agency employs to keep airline passengers safe while enhancing their travelling experience.
“What’s different about the 2013 forum is our stronger-than-usual insistence that this Conference is for anyone with any interest in tourism, whether it is a newcomer, seasoned practitioner, student or academic, policy-maker , entrepreneur or public and private sector delegates,” Riley explained.
Air transportation is featured prominently on the SOTIC agenda. The CTO’s Aviation Task Force has been a catalyst for spurring action on regional air transportation issues. Airline executives from British Airways, Delta Airlines, LIAT, Air Antilles Express, Aruba’s Insel Air and St. Croix-based Seaborne Airlines are participating in the conference.

“These airline executives have been successful in developing various sectors of the aviation industry. Their knowledge and experience will be of immense value to the delegates. It will also help to have them under one roof, because it never ceases to amaze me how people work so much better together when they are face-to-face. Aviation is our lifeline and we need innovative approaches to keeping those aerial highways open and busy. Don’t forget, the planes fly in tourists but they also transport our goods and services to global markets,” CTO Chairman Beverly Nicholson- Doty advised.
Noting that the conference theme is “Perfecting the Experience, Delivering Authenticity”, Nicholson-Doty, the U.S. Virgin Islands Commissioner of Tourism, said the conference will address how to deliver a more enhanced visitor experience and turning authenticity into greater visitor numbers, ensuring the Region has the right product and the right visitor experiences and total customer satisfaction.
Six countries – Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis and Dominica. have participated in the CTO’s Total Visitor Satisfaction (TVS) programme and two-thirds of the membership have expressed an interest in taking advantage of it.
Karine Roy-Camille, Tourism Commissioner of Martinique, which is hosting the conference for the first time, says establishing and maintaining closer ties with its Caribbean neighbours remains a key element of the island’s development strategy.
Youth from several CTO member countries will make their contributions to the discussions at a Youth Congress, one of the vehicles through which CTO encourages the best and brightest to consider tourism as a career.