Strong growth in Caribbean arrivals in first half

WILLEMSTAD, Curacao — The Caribbean chalked up a 5.8%
increase in international arrivals from January through June compared with the same period a year ago, to 14.8 million visitors, according to Richard Sealy, chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO).

“The increase outpaced all major regions of the world, well above the 4.1% increase recorded globally,” Sealy said during a media briefing at CTO’s annual State of the Industry Conference.

The Dutch Caribbean — Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatsius — had the fastest relative growth across the subregions, reporting an 8.5% increase in arrivals, primarily from the U.S. and South America.

“The U.S. remains our main source market, with 7.3 million visitors through June, a 5.3% rise,” Sealy said.

The thawing of U.S.-Cuba relations, meanwhile, resulted in more Americans transiting through the Bahamas, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands to visit Cuba.

Canada and Europe followed the U.S. in terms of visitor arrivals throughout the Caribbean.

In the accommodations sector, average room occupancy stood at 74.6%, up from 72% in the same period last year. Room revenue collected rose 9.2%, while available room stock increased by 1.5%.

Cruises continued to be in high demand through June, with an estimated 13.7 million cruise passenger visits in the first six months, a 3% rise.

“The numbers suggest that the prospects for Caribbean tourism are good, and we’re optimistic that we will maintain this pace in the second half of the year,” Sealy said.

“Overall, we project a 5% to 6% growth in 2015 over 2014’s 26 million visitors when final figures are tallied across the board.”

However, Sealy pointed that the Caribbean cannot continue to focus on just two or three main source markets to attract visitors. “We’ve got strong competition, and world travelers have lots of options on where to go to vacation and where to spend while on vacation, especially in Asia and South America,” he said.