CARIBBEAN countries will have to up their game, especially in the areas of marketing, investment and service if they are to keep pace with the fastest growing tourism destinations, especially in Asia Pacific and Africa. CTO officials and Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) Executives will discuss at a special retreat in Miami next month, ways to get buy-in from their members for the long-mooted regional marketing initiative to promote the Caribbean as a single brand.

The CHTA President Richard Doumeng told me they are “nowhere where we hoped we would be” on this initiative. He expressed the hope that the unprecedented recent collaboration between CHTA and CTO will continue.
The revamped caribbeantravel.com website, a joint project of the two organisations, under the aegis of the Caribbean Tourism Development Company (CTDC), has been hailed as a huge success.
CTO Secretary General, Hugh Riley has identified this project as one of the significant achievements in 2013. The website, which he considers as a “very impressive” portal available to all member countries, has been delivering traffic.
The CHTA President believes it is time that individual destinations get over their “self-interest” and pool resources to promote the Caribbean brand. The two organisations have been pushing for the programme with a Caribbean brand similar to the 2002 “Life needs the Caribbean” TV campaign.
Recalling that the previous campaign led to a significant increase in business from the U.S, Doumeng said the sustainability of any new marketing programme is critical.
Riley is convinced that Caribbean hoteliers can find cash by selling some of the continually unused room inventory, which he put at around 30 percent.
Some CTO member states will soon have a reduced financial obligation to the CTO. For the first time in its 25 year history, the organisation has introduced a two-tier membership, which allows member countries to choose which of the organisation’s services they need and can afford.
Tier one members will pay lower fees while tier two countries will be entitled to a larger portfolio of services. The CTO Council of Ministers approved the new membership structure at a recent meeting in Jamaica.
The CHTA President also feels that the impact of tourism on the economies of the Region is “underappreciated” by governments. He thinks it is “pennywise and pound foolish” for Caribbean governments to impose high taxes on the hospitality industry, including increasing room tax and the Value Added Tax (VAT) .
According to Doumeng, what governments don’t realise, is when they cut tourism budgets, they are affecting a revenue producing sector.
Dougmeng told me 2013 was a “stabilising year” for the hospitality sector. Room occupancy, which was at 66.3 percent in 2012, was about the same or only marginally higher for 2013. The same is anticipated for Average Daily Rate, which was close to US176 in 2012.
The U.S. Virgin Islands hotelier observed that there is a lot of “tired” tourism product in the region that needs to be replaced or upgraded.
I share Doumeng’s view that in addition to much needed investment in airports, new roads, shopping facilities and restaurants, new and decent restroom facilities, which is important to visitors, but often overlooked, can lead to a poor quality travel experience.
Ministries of tourism and tourism agencies should also examine the quality of their own restroom facilities, which both tourists and business visitors sometimes use. Barbados is one of the tourism destinations where, in addition to the airport and attractions, all the major downtown department stores and restaurants have excellent restroom facilities.
While the CTO Secretary General believes product is “paramount”, he too has stressed time and again that service is just as important.
In this regard, the CTO’s Total Visitor Satisfaction programme has been revamped and rebranded as the Guestpitality programme. Riley feels not enough emphasis is placed on the quality of the visitor experience. As an example, he said, if you are staying in a five star property and receive three star service, this could be a turn off for visitors.
Most CTO Member States recorded small or marginal increases in overall visitor arrivals for 2013 for months reported so far (mostly up to October and November). Notable exceptions, recording double digit increases were Guyana (11.7%), Montserrat (38.9%) and Haiti (20%).
The Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) said the increase was due to more visitors from across the Caribbean Region, especially from Suriname, Brazil, and Jamaica.
“Destination Guyana continues to receive international acclaim. In November 2013, National Geographic Traveler presented its 2014 must-see places on planet earth and Guyana earned a coveted spot on this exclusive, very short list for the very first time in 2014,” Guyana’s Tourism Minister, Irfaan Ali reported recently.

Antigua and Barbuda (-10.4%), Barbados (-8.7%) and the Bahamas (-6.6%) were among those countries that registered declines in arrivals from the U.S.
While many destinations attracted less Canadian visitors, undoubtedly due to the state of the Canadian economy, double digit increases were recorded by Montserrat (47.9%) Grenada(36.2%), Antigua and Barbuda(28.6%) and Belize (11%).
Not surprisingly, most destinations saw a decline in European arrivals. Notable exceptions were the Cayman Islands (+30.1%), Guyana (+12%), Belize(+11.5%) and St. Kitts and Nevis (+9.6%).
The CTO Secretary General is pleased by current news out of the U.S. market, especially bookings from three of the major tour operators.
Riley is also encouraged by the increase in services from U.S. carriers, especially new service from Southwest and expanded service from JetBlue to a number of destinations.
The CTO will keep up the pressure to persuade the British Government to amend the onerous Air Passenger Duty (APD), which has led to a significant fall off in European arrivals for some destinations. The tax will be increased in April from 322 pounds sterling for a family of four travelling in economy class to 340 pounds.
The CTO Secretary General has noted that in this campaign, the CTO is not a voice crying in the wilderness as the Fair Tax on Flying Campaign, an alliance of over 30 airlines, airports, tour operators, destinations and trade associations have united to call on the Government to make the system of aviation tax in the UK fairer. It is led by the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA).
For the first time, the CTO will be hosting a tourism investment conference with the aim of increasing the amount of Canadian business in the Region.
Riley believes the Canadian economy has provided fairly fertile ground for investment in the Caribbean. This event in June, which will be one of the key programmes for ‘Caribbean Week’ in Toronto, will highlight new investment opportunities that exist in the region’s tourism and hospitality sector.
Also high on the agenda is continuing the work of the CTO Aviation Task Force, which has been a catalyst in getting Caribbean governments to address major regional air transportation issues.
This will be a year of change for the CTO as it is an election year, which will see a new Chairman. As it continues to strive to position the Caribbean as the most desirable, year-round, warm-weather tourism destination, it is anticipating taking to a new level collaboration with the private sector. This augurs well for the major foreign-exchange earning industry. (Sandra Ann Baptiste is a Business Consultant, Writer and Specialist in Caribbean Affairs)

 PULL QUOTE: “Destination Guyana continues to receive international acclaim. In November 2013, National Geographic Traveler presented its 2014 must-see places on planet earth and Guyana earned a coveted spot on this exclusive, very short list for the very first time in 2014,” Guyana’s Tourism Minister, Irfaan Ali reported recently.