Regional Snapshot: leisure-focused Caribbean reliant on arrivals and visitor spend

Avoiding reintroducing restrictive air travel measures that would jeopardise the recovery of the aviation and tourism industry will enable the Caribbean to maintain its recovery path.

The region is among the most tourism-dependent in the world, and that means it was particularly hit hard in 2020. However, it also recovered much faster than expected, although it is not expected to exceed 2019 traffic levels until 2025, according to IATA forecasts. 

The Caribbean Tourism Hotel Association projected that travel and tourism’s contribution to gross domestic product would rise by almost half in 2021. Advance bookings of hotel stays and airline ticketing for 2022 also indicate a potential recovery to more than 70% of 2019 levels. 

The Caribbean’s strong leisure focus will support an important influx of visitors in the short term, stimulating economic activity as tourists spend money on restaurants, hotels, retailers, tour operators, and on other consumer goods and services. 

Islands across the region are investing in infrastructure and new resorts, hoping that their popularity as pandemic escapes can translate into returning visitors.

Some have already seen annual arrivals exceed the levels in 2019, with many travellers, particularly those from the United States, drawn to the Caribbean as a pandemic holiday spot for its proximity and relatively good record in curtailing COVID-19.

This focus means there is expected to be a continued high level of capacity deployed into the Caribbean from North and South America as well as Europe, These are all markets that are also enjoying an increasing freedom from restrictions and experiencing a strong return in demand.

A concern is that this could ultimately result in an oversupply, which will only damage the industry in the longer term.

• Will a potential oversupply put increasing pressure on the industry?

• Is there a need for Caribbean countries to come together and create some uniform regional travel guidelines? 

Moderator: CAPA - Centre for Aviation, Senior Analyst, Lori Ranson

Speakers:

• Cayman Islands Department of Tourism, Director of Tourism, Rosa Viola Harris
•  Silver Airways, CEO, Steve Rossum 
• Route Developers, Senior Consultant, Juan Nadal
• Caribbean Airlines, Acting CCO, Herbert Ghent   
• ALTA, Executive Director & CEO, Jose Ricardo Botelho  

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