US slowdown not necessarily
all bad for Caribbean tourism
TRINIDAD--The United States economic downturn, skyrocketing oil prices and worries over food cost may not have the impact of a “silent tsunami” on Caribbean tourism. Emerging markets with money to spend, the high euro and US travellers expected to seek relaxation closer to home are expected to keep the region afloat.
It’s a mixed outlook for the Caribbean for the coming year, but not so fearful, as islands like Curaçao that are not heavily dependant on the US market continue to see some growth with visitors from Europe.
Speaking at the 12th annual Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference (CHTIC) in Trinidad on Wednesday, Smith Travel Research Vice President for Global Development Jan Freitag said that as the US economy softened, travellers would seek to vacation close to home rather than in Europe where the dollar doesn’t buy much due to the high euro.
For European travellers, the Caribbean is a more viable option for vacations with the high euro as plus. He explained that even though room rates had increased somewhat, European travellers booking stays would still see lower prices than if they had travelled last year.
The view that US travellers are looking more to the Caribbean in this time of economic slowdown and there is a potential influx from Europe was shared by KPMG Corporate Finance Partner Simon Townsend.
However, the region has to be mindful of increased competition from rapidly growing new tourism hot spots like Dubai, by continuing visibility and upgrades. Investments are coming in, with places like Jamaica, St. Lucia and the Dominican Republic attracting investors from Europe and Asia, he added. Investors are looking for destinations that can attract European visitors and have the capability for sustained airlift.
As the United States becomes less attractive for investment, the Caribbean close by has seen and will continue to see investment from elsewhere coming in, said PKF Consulting Director David Larone.
The development trend being seen in the region is the move from large resorts to boutique hotels with flagship brands, Larone said. The condo hotel has definitely fallen out of favour, because people likely to seek vacation homes are now minding their finances more.
Scotiabank Group Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Warren Jestin said it would be a challenging market for the region’s tourism industry in the coming year because the length of the US economic meltdown could not be predicted.
The Caribbean as fertile ground for new hotel and tourism investments is the focus of CHTIC, a collaborative effort of the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) and Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO).
The three-day conference with the highest number of delegates ever to register in its 12-year history was opened by Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Patrick Manning at the new Hyatt Regency on Tuesday evening.
The resort is one of the newest multi-million-dollar properties attracted by the twin-island republic that has plunged head-first into tourism after years of heavy industrial focus. Manning told the gathering his country was more engaged than ever before in development of an internationally competitive tourism industry and significant progress had been made towards this end in the past six years.
