With record-setting arrivals in some destinations and a continuing focus on its popular carnivals and festivals, expectations are for a “strong” year ahead in the Caribbean, according to members of the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association. In fact, close to 50 percent of the 1,000-plus members of the association say the outlook for 2020 is positive or extremely positive. Only 15 percent forecast a negative year.

The figures are part of the CHTA’s 5th annual CHTA Industry Performance and Outlook Survey, which is undertaken to assist the organization with gaining a better understanding of the state of the tourism economy, its outlook, and the degree to which a number of factors impact or may affect the tourism industry.

The CHTA released the survey at its 38th annual Caribbean Travel Marketplace at the Baha Mar resort in Nassau, Bahamas last week, which was attended by Bahamas’ president and tourism minister; hundreds of delegates, including international tour operator buyers from as far away as Australia; and closer Canadian companies like Air Canada Vacations, TravelBrands, WestJet and tripcentral.ca, as well as Travel Industry Today.

Frank Comito, CEO and director general of the CHTA, noted that the optimism reflected in the survey was based in part on such factors as 2019 being a record year for average daily rate in the region’s hotels (up 5.6 percent), room inventory up 2.8 percent to 259,000 rooms; and the increase of air arrivals by 4.4 percent over 2018. There are also close to 4,500 hotel rooms in the pipeline for 2020, ongoing and significant capital expenditures in the region, and a stable economy.

At the same time, there has been a return to near pre-hurricane tourism performance in the six destinations affected by Irma and Maria in 2017 – some with triple digit growth in 2019.

Comito attributed an overall 2.7 percent decline in occupancy in 2019 to a cooling of The Bahamas’ record year due to Hurricane Dorian in September and negative publicity over tourist deaths in resorts in the Dominican Republic in May – situations that are now believed to be in the rear-view mirror.

According to preliminary figures from the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), the region experienced a 6.1 percent increase in tourism arrivals in the first nine months of 2019, with cruise arrivals up 5.9 percent during the same period.

As for 2020, with the caveat that “we must remember that we live in a volatile climatic region,” the CTO says, “Given the results recorded so far in 2019, it is our expectation that 2020 will, all things being equal, be another year of growth.”

And to that end, the CTO and its member countries will continue to promote festivals in 2020 – a second year for the marketing theme dictated by the realization that “it was all but impossible for us to fully embrace the rich culture of the Caribbean in one 12-month span (in 2019). This year, we hope to move even further along the path of integrating our festivals and other cultural events into the tourism product in all our countries. We recognize that not only do these aspects of our individual countries distinguish us from each other, but they also hold significant potential in the quest to attract even more visitors to our shores.”

At the marketplace, CHTA president Patricia Affonso-Dass took the opportunity to note that “the Bahamas is truly open for business” after Hurricane Dorian in September, news that was validated by the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism’s timely announcement on the final day that it had set an all-time record for arrivals in 2019 of 7.2 million visitors, also representing a 9 percent increase over the year previous.

At the same time, delegates had a chance to experience the extravagant host Baha Mar resort complex and conference centre, which finally opened in 2017 after a torturous and highly publicized years-long development and construction history.

Marketplace – the largest B2B event in the Caribbean – was naturally a chance for CHTA, which has been representing the interests of hoteliers and affiliate members such as tourist boards in the Caribbean for 55 years, to showcase a host of programs, forums and initiatives that include professional education, mentorship, young leaders, and engagement, and to “look to the future” during a time of “transition” in the hotel sector when chains are gaining more influence at the expense of small operators.

One of the CHTA’s noteworthy new initiatives was to invite travel counsellors to the conference for the first time, a pilot program that included a dozen American agents which the association expects to continue and expand in the future, possibly including Canadians.