Caribbean tourism figures hit by hurricanes

Last updated: October 25, 2017 at 9:38 am

Growth in tourism numbers across the Caribbean are expected to slow as 2017 ends due to the havoc caused by a series of devastating hurricanes.

Joy Jibrilu, chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organization, said that the industry will now see visitation figures up by about 1-2%.

This is a sharp drop from the 5.2% the organisation reported in the first half of the year. The lower rate is expected to continue into 2018.

"There are many challenges ahead," Jibrilu.

“We want our message to get out that much of the Caribbean is open for business now and will continue to be, but we must continue to support our neighbours who have been so affected."

Looking to the future

According to Travel Weekly, the newly formed Global Caribbean Tourism Recovery Team – chaired by Jamaica tourism minister Edmund Bartlett – plans to submit a blueprint for tourism recovery at a global conference at the end of November.

The event will be attended by the United Nations World Tourism Organization, the World Bank Ground and the Inter-American Development Bank, as well as the government of Jamaica.

Rebuilding the Caribbean tourism industry will be a key talking point at the conference, alongside increasing capacity, engagement between the private and public sector and co-ordinating technical support.

Jibrilu said that despite horrific damage to certain islands, the Caribbean is open for business.

"When the crisis is over, when the story ends, when the issues change, the world will move on, but there will still be a need to keep reminding the world that the distance between Barbados and Belize is more than six times as great as between Toronto and Montreal, that New York to Chicago is only half as far as the Bahamas to Grenada and that 70% of the large Caribbean region is open, operating at full speed and wanting to welcome visitors."