A privately contracted Barbadian company will over the next five months conduct research in The Bahamas and eight other countries in the Caribbean region to determine how much the hotel sector spends on local services and government taxes.
The Caribbean Hotel Association and an agency of the Centre for Development Enterprise of the European Union made the announcement this week.
The point is to thoroughly determine the extent to which contributions from the Caribbean tourism accommodation sector supports locally provided goods and services and government income.
“Until now, there had been no available data that quantifies and validates how the expenditures of Caribbean lodging establishments find their way into the local economy by supporting directly the wellbeing of workers, local entrepreneurs, professionals, small, medium and large corporations, and other economic sectors – even government revenues that help finance the running of the country,” said Berthia Parle, president of CHA.
“This vacuum exists despite the fact that hoteliers have access to the data necessary to clarify the real value and contribution of their business and the overall accommodations sector to their country; they have in their hands the power to help sensitize attitudes and promote more supportive policies in the best interest of their investment and the destination as a whole,” she added.
An arm of the EU whose focus is on Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, has contracted Barbadian company Tourism Global, Inc., to undertake the research in Antigua, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts & Nevis, and St Lucia.
But according to the CHA, it is prepared to make the research instruments available to other Caribbean destinations that may wish to carry out the study independently.
It is intended that in June 2006, during the annual Caribbean Hotel Industry Conference (CHIC), CHA will host a workshop to present the final report to the Caribbean Society of Hotel Association Executives (CSHAE).
“The Caribbean national hotel associations have been identified to lead the advocacy efforts of the Caribbean hotel sector at the national level with the findings of the study,” said CSHAE President Susan Springer.
The study of hotel expenditures is considered a natural extension of the World Travel & Tourism Council Economic Impact Study that CHA commissioned in 2004.
Just this week, the Director General of the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism Vernice Walkine said she is confident that revenue derived from tourism will reach $2 billion for 2005, the first time in history.
The final figures are still being calculated.
Several weeks ago, tourism officials announced that visitor arrivals for last year had exceeded 2005 for the second consecutive year, a feat about which they were overwhelmingly encouraged.
A cruise visitor spends on average $65 per visit, while stopover visitor spends over $1,000 per stay, according to tourism officials.
The Bahama Journal
