CTO chief calls for better awareness of Caribbean geography

Joy Jibrilu, chairman of the Board of Directors for the Caribbean Tourism Organisation, has called for efforts to educate travellers and travel professionals about the geography of the region following the recent hurricanes.

She was speaking at the State of the Tourism Industry Conference today (Friday) at the Radisson Beach Resort, Grenada.

"This has been one of the most important weeks in our recent history, with this conference coming in the wake of two of the most vicious hurricanes ever to hit the region, both in terms of intensity and the unforgiving nature of the devastation," she said.

"We were challenged this week to explore ways to help lift the people of the affected countries from the hardships imposed on them by the storms.

"At the same time, while being sensitive to the impacted members of the CTO family, we were also challenged to consider ways to tell the world that most of the Caribbean remains open for business.

"We recognised that there is a need by consumers, the media and even travel industry professionals, of a greater understanding of the geography of the region.

"Hence, there was general agreement that the Caribbean – both public and private sectors – must find the funds to get the message out."

She said longer term, there will still be need to keep educating people.

"We need to keep reminding the world that the distance between Barbados and Belize is more than six times as great as Toronto to Montreal; that New York to Chicago is only half as far as the Bahamas to Grenada; Guyana to Cuba is twice as far as London to Rome and that Dominica and the Dominican Republic are more than three times further away from each other than New York to Washington DC," she said.

This week a meeting was held to confirm the setting up of a Global Caribbean Tourism Recovery Team (GCTRT) to coordinate the tourism product restoration efforts, with members from the CTO, the WTTC and the UNWTO.

Its first meeting will be later in October, when the formal strategic framework and governance structure will be developed.

Jibrilu said the Caribbean had been performing at a healthy growth rate of 5.2% between January and June, compared to the same period last year.

"This reflected economic stability in the market, expansion and inauguration of flights by major carriers, and new marketing and product development initiatives," she said.

During the first six months, the region recorded 16.6 million international tourist arrivals, some 800 thousand more than in the first six months of 2016.

Up to June, the European market had grown by 7.9% and, despite the weak sterling, the UK by 4.8%.

"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% more than in the corresponding period of 2016.

"However, 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% and 2% n 2017, with the 2018 performance expected to be similar."

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