Curacao hosts CTO State of Industry Conference

Good News

At a recent Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) conference held in Curacao, tourism executives were delighted with the knowledge that the number of people visiting the Caribbean region for 2014 reached 26.3 million and for the first half of 2015, 14.8 million tourist arrivals were documented. The data shows that people are traveling to the Caribbean and they are spending their money. In 2014 tourism earned $29 billion, demonstrating an increase of $1 billion over 2013.

Not all Islands are equally successful in attracting visitors. The most popular Caribbean destinations include:

• Dominican Republic (2014) (5+ million visitors)
• Cuba (2015) (3+ million visitors)
• Puerto Rico (2014) (3+ million)
• Jamaica (2014) (3+ million visitors)
• Aruba (2014) (1+ million visitors)
• Barbados (2014) (519,639)
• Haiti (2014 – first nine months) (362, 890)
• St. Lucia (2014) (340,000 visitors)
• Belize (2014) (266,107 visitors)

The Islands of St. Kitts and Nevis as well as the Turks and Caicos (TCI) noted increased tourist visitors at about 4 percent. The Islands of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Cayman Island, Grenada and Montserrat counted an increase in tourism between 1 and 3 percent.

Luxury or Necessity

In a 2013 speech at the Nassau, Bahamas meeting of the Caribbean Hotel Tourism Association (CHTA) Perry Christie, Prime Minister of the Bahamas, found that despite the vast financial resources which have been invested by governments and the private sector, one of the most pressing challenges the Caribbean continues to face is costly and inadequate transportation by national, regional and international airlines. “Although the Caribbean markets itself as a region, the reality is that it happens to be the one region where internal or regional air and sea transportation is severely limited by the challenges in travelling from the USA or Latin America to countries in the region.”

Airlines are among the important and valuable tourism partners as air travel is the most viable transit option for quickly reaching a destination. Although many visit the Caribbean through passage on a cruise ship the benefits to the Island destination are limited based on hours spent off the ship. Most expenditures are directed to tours and tour guides, dining and shopping.

Airlift directly impacts the region and the businesses that are tourism dependent. While selecting and scheduling airlines may appear to be a simple economic relationship between demand and supply it is a complex relationship that includes public and private interests and idiosyncratic agendas. Issues revolve around landing rights, flight permits, country taxes, tariffs, border safety, security, International Civil Aviation standards and regulations as well as politics and personal relationships.

JetBlue. Getting to the Caribbean

Airlift to the Caribbean is vital to the success of a destination and JetBlue has assumed a major role in bringing visitors to this part of the world. Presently, Barbados, Curacao and Antigua are beneficiaries of JetBlue managerial decisions as the company is increasing lift to these locales. JetBlue currently operates daily flights from New York to Barbados and beginning April 2016 it is scheduling daily nonstop service between Ft. Lauderdale (FLL) and Grantley Adams International Airport (BGI) Barbados – making it the third JetBlue city with non-stop flights to Barbados. Service from JFK was launched in 2009.

New non-stop seasonal Saturday service between Boston and Barbados begins November 7, 2015. JetBlue is also launching seasonal Saturday MINT service between New York and Barbados on November 7 with Saturday MINT service between Boston and Barbados starting in March 2016.

JetBlue’s direct service to Antigua from JFK starts on November 5, 2015. In 2016 JetBlue will launch additional direct service to Curacao International Airport (CUR) from JFK bringing the total to three direct flights weekly.

Competition

The future looks rosy for some sectors of the Caribbean if the region is looked at as a “tourism silo,” ignoring other destinations that are competing for the tourism dollar. A formidable competitor for tourists is Mexico with 20,916,000 visitors (2014) and Euromonitor predicts a 1.8 percent increase in travel to this destination for 2015 – bringing the number of visitors to 21,297,000.

Can travelers who are heading to Mexico and other global destinations be convinced (or motivated) to change or alter their plans to select the Caribbean or it is better marketing strategy to look for new, first time travelers?

Facts of Life

Passport Requirements

When identifying target markets, many Caribbean destinations look long and hard at North Americans; however, there are limitations to this market segment with the absence of passports a major roadblock (required by most destinations in the region). Only 46 percent of Americans have a passport! The total number of passports issued in the last ten years: 133,959,114; this means that less than half of the population can fly to Canada, let alone travel to any other part of the world.

The states with the smallest number of passport holders are Mississippi (18 percent), West Virginia (19 percent), and Alabama (22 percent) with most passport holders living in Connecticut (55 percent), Alaska (56 percent), New York (57 percent), Massachusetts (57 percent) and New Jersey (62 percent). Research has also found that Americans without passports may not have the financial resources necessary for international travel. Even the cheapest trip outside the US is beyond the means of the average American.

Advance or Retreat

The World Economic Forum has identified barriers to increased tourism. The organization finds that travel and tourism does not move forward because of outdated practices of visas and border controls. Research determines that removing travel visas at the bilateral level would more than triple travel flows between countries.

While the private sector proactively engages governments to acknowledge the economic case for travel facilitation and argue for collaborative efforts among and between all relevant public and private stakeholders, the climb up the mountain is a very slippery one and decades of conversation have not brought decisive positive actions.

Tourists are motivated to travel to destinations that are “perceived” to be safe and countries with stable governments, low crime rates, and world-class medical care are likely to be selected before other destinations. Countries that invest in technological advances and innovation increase the efficiency and security of travel.

Many industry leaders claim that it is difficult to attract top technical and managerial talent to the industry; therefore, the public and private sectors should collaborate closely to provide updated and relevant educational programs that will meet the growing and changing demands of this dynamic and expanding industry.

As tourism demands change industry business strategies must be flexible and adjust by offering new products and services. Millennials, a new middle class (from emerging countries), senior travelers and the LGBT markets have their own definitions for a successful holiday. Destinations that address these wishes and dreams will capture the market segments (i.e., targeted accommodations, handicap accessibility, menu modifications based on dietary considerations).

Infrastructure investment (i.e., airport development, road and rail enhancement, communication technologies, medical services) are, in many cases, not keeping up with the demands of the traveler. There should be a dialogue between public and private sectors, including airline and airport management, to ensure integrated strategies and alignment on issues such as investment, regulation, sustainability, security, safety and corruption.

The role of the airport has to be clearly defined. Is the space purely a transit point for visitors to move through as effectively and efficiently as possible, or, is it a destination where dining, shopping, and recreational activities are available. Each destination must find its own answer that meets the wants and needs of the community and the visitor.

New technologies and innovation are reshaping the world and the way business is conducted. The new “sharing” economy has to be evaluated and regulated in ways that will be beneficial to the public and private sectors as well as the immediate community and visitors. The consumer peer-to-peer rental market is worth an estimated $26 billion with Airbnb alone having more than 600,000 listings across 160 countries.

10 Steps Lead to Increased Tourists

Some Caribbean destinations are more successful than others in attracting visitors. Research suggests that the high-achieving destinations have some (if not all) of the following characteristics:

1. High visibility in traditional North American, Latin American and European markets

2. Integrating a viable marketing campaign that includes public relations, sales promotions and advertising

3. Enhancing an online presence (i.e., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn)

4. Building a community of interests that supports the destination with an identification of and concentration on specific target markets (i.e., LGBT, Adventure, Mature)

5. Visibility at trade events in emerging markets including Latin America, Europe, China and India

6. Increased airlift

7. Ease of Visa entry

8. Increased, diverse and improved hotel accommodations

9. Increased and improved electronic communications

10. Enhanced infrastructure (i.e., public/private transportation systems, street/road signage, accessible buildings, beaches and sports/recreational activities; sustainability)

Going Forward

CTO-directed conferences present opportunities for change agents to have a global platform for discussions of issues that can be shared between and among its members. The meetings and recommendations are frequently venues that lead to new programs and products.

Since 1989, the mission of the CTO has been the development of sustainable tourism for the economic and social benefit of the Caribbean people. The 32 member countries and territories include English, French, Spanish and Dutch representatives, as well as the Caribbean Hotel Association, companies, organization and individuals who offer products and services to the Caribbean tourism industry.

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