Caribbean reports strong 2014: CTO

The Caribbean welcomed a record 26.3 million travellers in 2014, as arrivals to the region continue to climb.

In the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s State of the Industry report presented in Barbados this week, CTO Secretary General Hugh Riley said that the number of travellers last year represents a 5.3 per cent increase over 2013 – itself a record year for the region – with approximately 1.3 million more arrivals than last year, surpassing the CTO’s estimates of two to three per cent growth. Those tourists injected more than $29.2 billion USD to the overall Caribbean economy, a $1 billion increase from the previous year.

The strongest contributors to those tourism numbers included traditional markets such as Canada, which Riley said “rallied strongly” following a flat 2013; Canadian market share was retained at 12.3 per cent in 2014, confirmed Winfield Griffith, director of research and IT for the CTO. Riley added that while the U.S. also maintained a strong performance, European markets contributed more than five million arrivals for the first time since 2008.

So strong was the Caribbean’s tourism growth that at a UNWTO estimate of 4.7 per cent, “we outperformed the rest of the world,” Riley said.

The outlook for 2015 appears even brighter, the secretary general went on, with increased airlift to the Caribbean from several airlines (up six per cent in 2014), along with more hotel and resort construction. While he admited 2015 projections for cruise visits appear less optimistic – citing a 2015-2016 Cruise Industry News Annual Report that suggests some ships will be repositioned away from the region (conversely, the Caribbean’s cruise sector increased eight per cent in 2014, representing 24 million passenger visits, he said) – Riley remains nonetheless positive for the year ahead.

“Clearly, last year, the Caribbean’s tourism industry was the strongest on record,” he said. “There’s no doubt that political and economic conditions, increased airline seat capacity, improved airport facilities, increased room stock – as recognized hotel chains established themselves in our destinations – and new initiatives in the marketplace, all contributed to this success.”

Looking ahead in his address to the conference, CTO Chairman Richard Sealey outlined the challenges and solutions for the region in 2015.

“If we are to keep the visitors coming, if we are to maintain interest in our region,” he said, “if we are to withstand the strong competition from both emerging destinations and our own source markets, we must make the right investments in our infrastructure, we must make travel to and through the Caribbean as hassle-free as possible, we must make tourism profitable for our people and for our partners.”