Major publication warns of possible ‘man-made hurricane’ threatening Caribbean tourism

HONOLULU, Hawaii (CMC):

A major publication has predicted that a “man-made hurricane” may be forming over the Caribbean with the Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organization’s (CTO) elimination of the United States (US) and United Kingdom (UK) markets.

eTurboNews (eTN), an online global travel industry publication, on Saturday said that the US has been seen as the most important tourism source market for Caribbean island countries and territories.

“American visitors to the Caribbean are clearly identifying the United States as the most important source market for the region, with the highest number of visitors arriving every day,” it said. “The UK and Europe are seen as the second largest inbound travel market.

“Without visitors from the US and the UK, most economies in Caribbean countries would be the verge of collapse,” it added. “Why did the Caribbean tourism board decide to close their New York and London offices? The consequences for the visitor industry and also for the dedicated team of employees may be devastating.”

In October, the CTO announced that it was closing its New York and London offices in order to better streamline its operations and finances.

CTO closed its New York office on December 31 last year and will close its UK office by January 31, 2020.

The regional tourism organisation also said that it will be conducting a “comprehensive audit” of its Barbados office.

“This restructuring exercise is expected to significantly reduce the operational expenditures of CTO, giving it more capacity to undertake its key functions of regional marketing, statistics and research, and product development,” said CTO in a statement.

It said, over the past two decades, there has been much discussion surrounding the promotion and development of tourism in the Caribbean, the world’s most tourism dependent region.

But it said, while there have been many visions, plans, papers written and philosophies espoused, “there has been widespread acceptance that much improvement is needed to elevate tourism development in the region”.

Displacement

The organisation that this exercise will lead to some displacement, but added that it “firmly believes that it represents a strong revitalisation of the organisation”.

But eTN said the idea of restructuring CTO and the cutting of operational costs is not original.

“Reliable sources tell us that as early as February 2001 copies of a final report, titled Strategic Review of the CTO Marketing Function, containing recommendations for restructuring CTO’s modus operandi were submitted to the CTO governing body of the day for review, consideration, and implementation,” it said, adding that highlights of that report proposed a thorough overhaul and expansion of CTO‘s marketing division.

“What is mind-boggling is that if it was evident as far back as 2001 that expenditures needed to be curtailed, why it took some 18 years to rectify the situation?” it asked. “In a region where tourism is reputed to be the main engine of economic growth and development, should this be interpreted as procrastination, complacency or that CTO’s current business model, which was introduced in 1989 with the merger of CTA and CTRC has outlived its usefulness?”