The numbers are in: The Caribbean Tourism Organization reports that the number of tourists visiting the region in 2020 – the world’s lost year of tourism – dropped by over 65 percent. But the CTO notes that the pandemic-fuelled decline was at least less acute than “any other region in the world.”
The CTO also hopefully projects a 20 percent gain in 2021 (over last year).
As for the year past – a year “characterised by empty hotels and restaurants, deserted attractions, shut borders, laid-off workers, grounded airlines and crippled cruise lines” – the CTO notes in its just-released Caribbean Tourism Performance Report 2020, that arrivals totalled a little over 11 million, a decline of 65.5 percent compared to the record 32 million tourist visits in 2019 and less than the world average of 73.9 percent during the same period.
The impact was particularly acute from April to about mid-June when there was “literally no activity” in many Caribbean destinations – some of them (still) closed entirely to tourists – according to the CTO.
Another factor was the docking of cruise ships, which were effectively banned from sailing Caribbean routes by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) after the pandemic was declared in March and cruise arrivals in total dropped from 30 million in 2019 to 8.5 million in total for the year.
However, the CTO attributes the general overall lower rate of decline in the region to two key factors: a significant portion of the Caribbean’s winter season (January to mid-March 2020) saw average levels of tourist arrivals when compared to 2019, and the fact that the main (summer) season in other regions coincided with the period where there was normally very limited international travel.
In recounting its tarnished tourism year, the CTO says a period of virtually no tourism began in mid-March leading to a 93.3 percent second quarter drop, followed by a tentative re-opening beginning in June. The fall-off in stayover arrivals continued through to September, when a gradual reversal began, prompted by destination initiatives such as long-stay work programs.
Forecast
The CTO says the Caribbean’s performance in 2021 will depend largely on the success of the authorities in both the region and source countries in combatting, containing, and controlling the COVID virus. It notes, “Already, there are some encouraging signs like the vaccine roll-out taking place in North America, Europe and the Caribbean.”
But this enthusiasm, cautions the CTO, must be tempered by other factors such as:
• Lockdowns in key source markets that are expected to continue into the second quarter
• International travel confidence not expected to pick up until the summer 2021
• A steep fall in the number of people planning to travel abroad
• And, the possible requirement by the authorities in key markets for their citizens to vaccinate before travelling abroad.
With these factors taken into consideration, the initial forecast is for a 20 percent rise in arrivals in 2021, says the CTO, with a similar increase in visitor expenditure, when compared to 2020.
Headquartered in Barbados, The Caribbean Tourism Organization is the Caribbean’s tourism development agency, comprising membership of most the region’s Dutch, English, French and Spanish countries and territories, as well as a myriad of private sector allied members.