Caribbean Cruise Tourism dropping fast

Many countries have seen a significant drop in visitor arrivals and revenue receipts, which is worrying as the region is heavily tourism dependent.

CEO of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) Alec Sanguinetti says ‘Tourist arrivals have declined in nearly all of the Caribbean countries. A major concern has to be global visitor decline to Caribbean countries from all of the traditional source markets.’ According to data from the Caribbean Tourism Organisation cruise ship arrivals are not falling as fast as some other routes to the Caribbean. Twenty countries in the region reported on cruise arrivals, with eleven saying they had more cruises than the previous year, while eight said they had fewer. However, this is against the background of more people taking cruises as they enabled a wider and more various holiday experience, so many of the people taking a cruise to the Caribbean were those who had chosen a cruise over a land-based holiday so they weren’t additional visitors but visitors changing their arrival route.

Cuba is the only country in the region to really buck the trend, with visitor numbers increasing rapidly from the USA, presumably as Cuban immigrants revisit their old home for the first time since sanctions were imposed by the US government.

ABTA says holiday bookings from the UK to the Caribbean are down by 19% compared to the same period last year and that the UK government's decision to double its air passenger tax for some long-haul flights from 1st November 2009 would not help as it could mean a price increase of £300 for a family of four flying from the UK to the Caribbean.