THE Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) has reported that the region performed at a healthy growth rate of 5.2 per cent between January and June, when compared to the same period last year.
Chair of the CTO’s Board of Directors, Joy Jibrilu, told delegates of the recently held 2017 State of the Industry Conference (SOTIC), that this reflected economic stability in the market, expansion and inauguration of flights by major carriers, and new marketing and product development initiatives.
She said that during the first six months, the region recorded 16.6 million international tourist arrivals, some 800 000 more than in the first six months of 2016.
“Growth was recorded in all major source markets except South America, which contracted by 14.3 per cent… Up to June, the European market had grown by 7.9 per cent, Canada by 6.4 per cent and, despite the weak sterling, the UK by 4.8 per cent.
“In the hotel industry, the half-year outcomes reported by STR Global showed that average occupancy increased marginally by 0.2 percentage points to 70.8 per cent, while the average daily room rate rose slightly by 0.2 per cent, moving from US$220.84 in 2016 to US$221.38 in 2017,” she disclosed.
“Like tourist arrivals, growth in the cruise sector also remained positive and stronger than the expected performance in the first half of the year. At the end of the first six months of 2017, it is estimated that cruise passenger arrivals to the Caribbean region had reached 15.3 million, 4.0 per cent more than in the corresponding period of 2016. This performance represented the largest number of cruise passengers in the region at this time of year.”
However, the CTO Chair signalled that with the passage of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the growth rate will slow down in the remaining quarters of the year.
“Hence, the expected growth rate of tourist arrivals will range between 1.0 per cent and 2.0 per cent in 2017, with the 2018 performance expected to be similar.” (TL)