Caribbean tourism officials are bracing for a significant fall off in business during the first quarter of this year, owing to the global economic situation.
The chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), Antigua and Barbuda’s tourism minister Harold Lovell, said the region stands to lose as much as one-third of its business during the period ending March 2009.
He said regional tourism officials were expecting 20-35 per cent fewer visitors during the traditional Caribbean high season compared to 2008, adding that winter 2009 will be “very challenging” for Caribbean tourism.
However, CTO interim secretary general Hugh Riley said travellers coming to the Caribbean this winter can enjoy a number of new hotels and attractions that were planned while business was still booming.
“The other good news for travellers is that there has never been a better time to take advantage of outstanding values in Caribbean vacations,” he said.
In the meantime, a new survey by a leading United States travel agency says Caribbean cruises continue to rule in travel outlook for 2009.
In releasing the survey at the weekend, the Miami-based Travel Leaders, formerly Carlson Wagonlit Travel Associates, said Jamaica was “getting a lot of renewed attention”.
Travel leaders said this was “most likely because of all the new hotels cropping up”.
In addition to interviewing travel analysts and providers, travel leaders said it surveyed 547 agents, managers and agency owners.
“The people who were going to South America are going to the Caribbean now,” said Roland Largay, chairman of Southbury, Connecticut-based Largay Travel, who recently was named agent of the year by a travel industry magazine.
Source: Jamaica Observer
