WILLEMSTAD — Hurricanes Irma and Maria have seen the Caribbean revise its projected tourism growth down to just one to two percent for 2017.
The Caribbean Tourism Organization revealed latest figures at the World Tourism Market (WTM) that showed tourism to the region grew by 5.2 percent year-on-year in the six months to June 2017, outperforming the 2.5-3.5 percent growth that had been forecasted for the period.
But a reduction in airlift into the region in the aftermath of the two hurricanes have led the organisation to revise growth by year-end to just one or two percent.
Figures by OAG show flight frequency into the region in October dropped by 6.7 percent, while seat capacity contracted by 4.1 percent.
Islands which saw the biggest reductions in airlift were Puerto Rico, which lost 25 percent of its flights in that month, Dominica which lost 13.7 percent, Sint Maarten which lost 12 percent and the BVI which lost 11.2 percent.
Dionisio D’Aguilar, chairman of the CTO’s council of ministers, warned of the economic impact that slower growth in tourism will have in the region.
“This is expected to have a significant economic impact, based on predictions by the Caribbean Development Bank. According to the CDB, every one percent of reduction in tourist arrivals could cost $137 million in lost revenue,” he said.
D’Aguilar said arrivals figures for September and October have still not been collated, but added it was pleasing to see that many cruise ships which had been unable to visit their intended ports of call were redeployed within the region, which benefitted other destinations.
Curacao saw a 138 percent boost in its cruise passenger arrivals in September year-on-year, while Jamaica’s rose by 54 percent.