Travel by Caribbean people to destinations within the region increased by an estimated 3.6% during 2016, the second consecutive year of growth.
Despite this positive result, the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) Performance of Tourism Industry Report 2016 observed that intra-regional travel remained costly with fragmented air service.
The report said that the bulk of the tourists visited the Dominican Republic, Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados, while robust growth was experienced in Guyana (39.1%), St. Vincent & the Grenadines (14.1%) and the Turks & Caicos Islands (13.5%).
Seven destinations did not improve upon last year’s performance and recorded decreases in the range of -2.5% in Trinidad & Tobago to -43.6% in Suriname.
The report revealed by CTO Secretary General, Hugh Riley also highlighted that in 2016, the US economy was relatively strong, unemployment fell, and consumer confidence was high, resulting in an increased appetite for outbound travel among Americans.
“The Caribbean’s share (9.8%) of the US outbound market was second only to Europe’s share (17.3%) but its growth rate was the slowest among all regions. This, notwithstanding, an estimated 14.6 million stay-over arrivals came from the Unites States, the top Caribbean source market, representing an annual growth rate of 3.5%. Notably, US arrivals grew at a faster rate (5.5%) in the third quarter than during any other quarter of the year,” according to the 2016 report.
The overall performance was a result of increases being recorded in 70.8% of the reporting destinations. Seven destinations recorded increases in excess of 10.0% within their reporting periods, which included Belize (18.3%), the Turks & Caicos Islands (16.1%), Bermuda (15.7%), Antigua & Barbuda (14.8%), Barbados (10.7%), Grenada (10.7%), and Montserrat (10.5%). Declines were recorded in six destinations some of which experienced a reduction in airlift from the US market.
Destination Canada reported that outbound, overnight international trips by Canadians contracted by -3.4% in the first eleven months of 2016.
The CTO reported that this was the culmination of a -7.3% decline in trips to the United States, as the Canadian currency weakened against the US dollar, while there was a 3.5% increase in arrivals to all other countries.
“For the region though, the weak Canadian dollar was the cornerstone of the uncharacteristically feeble performance, which plagued arrivals from this market in 2016”.
“The contraction in tourist visits for the year was estimated at around -3.4% compared to 2015, as tourist visits from the Canada numbered 3.3 million and contributed 11.3% of total arrivals to the Caribbean,” the report explained. (TL)