While their neighbors struggle with declining tourism dollars, a handful of Caribbean nations have compensated for declining American tourism by focusing on a European clientele.
The fall-off in visitors from the United States following Sept. 11 has hurt this regional economy which relies so heavily on travel and tourism.
Other Caribbean nations are beginning to follow the lead of Dutch Curacao and the British Virgin Islands in redirecting their promotional campaigns eastward toward Europe. Caribbean officials attended a week-long conference on this sun-drenched island playing catch-up by hyping marketing schemes and development plans aimed at European travelers.
“We are now really positioning ourselves to not depend on the U.S. market,” said Bernadette Davis, tourism director for French St. Martin.
Curacao and the British Virgin Islands have registered increases in overnight stays at hotels and visitor arrivals by cruise ship this year — the only two Caribbean nations able to boast such results.
“We all should realize that the business model we were using before is not optimal,” said Ramon Chong, commissioner of tourism in Curacao, during this week’s annual Caribbean Tourism Conference in the Bahamas.
For Curacao, an island 35 miles (55 km) north of Venezuela, an aggressive move to promote vacations for travelers living in the Netherlands as well as marketing online helped offset the dramatic decline in both U.S. and Latin American tourists.
The island posted a 5.5 percent increase in overnight stays while the number of tourists landing by cruise ship has increased 11.8 percent, according to the Caribbean Tourism Organization.
The British Virgin Islands, too, looks to Europe to boost results in the face of depressed U.S. arrivals, with 20,000 British, 6,000 German and 4,500 Italian visitors this year. The country has posted an increase of 5.2 percent for overnight stays and 7.9 percent for visitors by cruise ship.
TOO LITTLE TOO LATE
Financial analysts and some Caribbean officials have begun hoisting caution flags ahead of the winter travel season, typically late November to early April, noting that even gains in attracting European travelers may not be enough at this point to offset the drop in U.S. and Latin visitors.
“How is 2003 going to be? Is it going to be the recovery year, the magical year? I don’t think so,” said Alvaro Renedo, director of the Tourism Office of Spain. “I don’t see any reason to be optimistic.”
Tourism accounts for more than 50 percent of most Caribbean economies, and up to 90 percent for smaller islands. It is the largest foreign exchange earner and top employer in the region, with more than 1 million people working in the sector.
But many of the island nations have been devastated by U.S. economic weakness that began in 2001 and the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States that cut deep into travel spending.
Now, even as travel agents express optimism about the winter travel season, early bookings show little sign of recovery.
In Aruba, for example, ongoing weakness in tourism revenue has raised eyebrows on Wall Street.
“Aruba was hit pretty hard, and they haven’t started to come back,” said Therese Feng, associate director at Fitch Ratings.
Credit ratings firm Moody’s Investors Service noted a decision by Dutch carrier KLM
NO CHOICE
Still, Caribbean officials said they do not have much choice but to look for other markets, something they have already begun to do.
St. Martin, for example, is pinning its hopes on French travelers buying into extended weekend stays on the island, despite the eight-hour flight each way.
The Caribbean Tourism Organization’s 32 member states have started a coordinated process to adopt the “Blue Flag” beach standards used in Europe — a move the group’s director general said should give the Caribbean “credibility” with European travelers.
Puerto Rico tourism officials also say they expect the 2003 opening of a new hotel under the Spanish Sol Melia
By Kristin Roberts, (Reuters)
