Caribbean region among fastest to recover from pandemic effects

The Caribbean was one of the regions with the quickest recovery rates globally in 2022 in relation to tourist arrivals, says acting secretary general of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), Neil Walters.

The CTO head was speaking at a Caribbean Tourism Performance and Outlook press conference in Barbados Tuesday morning.

Twenty-eight point three million land-based visitors arrived on the region's shores, 88.6 per cent of pre-pandemic levels of 2019, the year that is used as a baseline for typical tourism activity before COVID.

Walters said the recovery was bolstered by the relaxation of restrictions in international travel as well as strong demand in the United States, the region's top source market for inbound travel.

“Strategic marketing initiatives and the restoration of some of the airlift capacity between more markets and the Caribbean have also contributed to the positive results,” he explained.

However, he pointed out that the industry's recovery and growth were undermined throughout the year by negative effects, including rising prices, the intermittent supply chain disruptions, caused by the pandemic, labour shortages and disputes, global inflation and heightened geopolitical tensions.

Except for Haiti, which showed a negative 20.3 per cent during 2022, where the industry was negatively impacted by the well document crisis in that country, and the US Virgin Islands which is normalising, showed negative 3.2 per cent. But all 27 Caribbean tourism destinations showed an increase in stopover arrivals, compared to 2021, of between 8.3 per cent and 16 per cent.

The top five Caribbean destinations are Puerto Rico, The US Virgin Islands, St Maarten, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Dominican Republic. These countries have now surpassed their total pre-pandemic arrival numbers, which are still being tabulated said Walters.

Although the entire region has not yet surpassed 2019 numbers, according to chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation, Kenneth Bryan, who is also Minister of Tourism, Cayman Islands, the needle is moving in the right direction.

Janet Silvera

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