The Caribbean Tourism Organisation expects the sub-regions tourism industry to grow by 5 to 6 per cent growth this year. So said CTO chairman Richard Sealey when he gave an update on the performance of the regional industry during a media briefing at the World Trade Centre in Curacao yesterday.
Sealy said the Caribbean continues to outpace all major regions of the world in tourist arrivals, with a 5.8 per cent for the first half of the year.
“For the first six months the Caribbean welcomed 14.8 million, approximately 800,000 or 5.8 per cent higher than the corresponding period in 2014, well above the 4.1 per cent recorded globally,” he said. :The Caribbean share of global arrivals stood at 2.8 per cent.”
Sealy said there had been considerable growth in all destinations in this sub-region due to increased demand from the United States and South American markets.
CTO data shows that the US remains the Caribbean’s main market with 7.3 million tourist visits between January and June—a 5.3 per cent increase.
“The thawing of the relationship between Cuba and United States resulted in greater number of Americans transition through other countries like the Bahamas, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands in order to visit Cuba,” Sealy said.
“The Canadian market continues to perform well with 2.1 million visits during the period, while arrivals from Europe increased by a modest 1.1 per cent, moving from 2.58 million in 2014 to 2.61 in 2015. The intra-regional market recorded strong growth of 5.5 per cent, with some 400 thousand visits.”
The CTO chairman said all indicators for the accommodation sector were positive and holding strong through to the end of June and room occupancy in the first half of the year stood at 74.6 per cent up from the 72 per cent for the corresponding period in 2014.
Sealy added the Caribbean continues to be in high demand a cruise ship destination. There were an estimated 13.7 million cruise passenger visits to region in the first six months of the year, which was three per cent higher than for 2014.
“The numbers suggest that the prospects for Caribbean tourism are good, and we remain cautiously optimistic that we will maintain the pace during the second half,” he said.
