Slide1: Caribbean and Intra-Caribbean Tourism Current Situation and Perspectives Mercedes Silva Sustainable Tourism Specialist Caribbean Tourism Organization 8th Meeting of the Special Committee on Sustainable Tourism of the Association of Caribbean States Port of Spain, April 4th, 2002


CTO Membership: CTO Membership Caribbean Map


Slide3: OECS Countries Dutch West Indies Anguilla Aruba Antigua & Barbuda* Bonaire British Virgin Islands Curacao Dominica* Saba Grenada * St Eustatius Montserrat* St Marteen St Kitts and Nevis* St. Lucia * French West Indies St Vincent and the Grenadines* Guadeloupe Martinique Other CARICOM Hispanic Caribbean The Bahamas Cuba Barbados Dominican Republic Belize Cancun / Cozumel Guyana Venezuela Jamaica Trinidad and Tobago US Caribbean Haiti Puerto Rico Suriname US Virgin Islands Other Commonwealth Bermuda Cayman Islands Turks and Caicos Islands * CARICOM Caribbean Sub-regions


Slide4: Visitor Expenditure in the Caribbean (US$ billion)


Economic Benefits of Tourism: Economic Benefits of Tourism Caribbean received US$ 19.6 p billion in 2000 from Tourism * 1999


Employment in Tourism Industry: Employment in Tourism Industry CTO conservatively estimates that more than 900 thousand persons are directly or indirectly employed in the tourism industry.


Importance of Tourism to Caribbean Economies: Importance of Tourism to Caribbean Economies Visitor Expenditure as a Percentage of GDP Anguilla - 75% Cayman Islands - 60% St. Lucia - 55% Antigua & Barbuda - 49% Aruba - 41% Barbados - 36% St. Kitts & Nevis - 31% Grenada - 28% St. Vincent & G’dines - 28% Jamaica - 25%


Slide8: International & Caribbean Visitor Arrivals


Slide9: International & Caribbean Tourist Arrivals Growth Performance 1987-2000 CARIBBEAN WORLD


Slide10: International & Caribbean Cruise Bed Days Growth Performance 1991-2000 Caribbean World Mediterranean


Slide11: Growth in Tourist Arrivals to the Caribbean and Selected Sub-regions since 1991


Slide12: Tourist Arrivals to the Caribbean by Sub Regions 2000


Slide13: Tourist Arrivals to the Caribbean by Major Markets 2000p


Slide14: Room Capacity in the Caribbean


Slide15: Occupancy Rates in the Caribbean (percent)


Challenges to Caribbean Tourism: Challenges to Caribbean Tourism Diminished economic growth in many of our source market Reduced profitability of airlines More countries seriously adopting tourism as a viable development option Increased leisure travel options within our major markets Changing Consumer Patterns Changing distribution systems


Challenges After September 11th: Challenges After September 11th Safety and security the primary concern of travelers both in terms of Air travel and safety at the destination Shorter booking window, reduced from three months to as much as four weeks Economic downturn..increased un-employment


Growing Competition - Product: Growing Competition - Product Higher levels of service outside Caribbean Freer cross-border travel (notably Europe) Huge growth in cruise ship inventory and cruising destination Better scheduled airlift to other regions Lack of investment and innovation in product development in the region


Slide19: The intra-regional travel market Maximizing the Potential


Slide20: Overview of Intra-regional Travel


Slide21: Travel Patterns


Slide22: Circuits of Travel


Slide23: Purpose of intra-regional travel


Slide24: Purpose of travel cont’d


Slide25: Competitive issues affecting the Caribbean Extra-regional travel Relative difficulty of air access


Slide26: Competitive issues cont’d High cost of transport and accommodation Lack of knowledge/awareness


Slide27: Ideas for pro-active marketing


Slide28: Marketing strategies


Slide29: The way forward


Slide30: CTO’S Intra-regional travel project


Towards the Future: Towards the Future The Caribbean is perceived as a safe destination in comparison to its major competitors in the middle east and Asia. Declines in September estimated at 19% are leveling off and showing positive signals of recovery. Preliminary estimates suggest that arrivals to the region in 2001, declined by 2% compared to 2000 Efforts being made towards Sustainable tourism initiatives inclusive of improved product & human resource development Greater effort in marketing & research


Projected Growth inWorld & Caribbean Tourism: Projected Growth in World & Caribbean Tourism ave. annual 1995 2000 2010 % ch. Caribbean 14.7 20.3 28.4 4.6 World 567.0 698.8 937.0 3.6 % share 2.6% 2.9% 3.0% millions


Slide33: www.onecaribbean.org www.doitcaribbean.com