5 Caribbean Destinations Enjoying Sunny Skies in 2014

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Next month Caribbean tourism leaders will gather in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands for the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO)’s “State of the Industry Conference.” The annual travel marketing talkfest launches as Caribbean destinations prepare for the 2014-2015 winter season, the region’s peak travel period.

Caribbean government officials, travel and tourism entrepreneurs and marketing and development strategists will convene at the event to discuss strategies to develop “a sustainable tourism industry that will position the Caribbean as the most desirable, year-round warm-weather destination,” in the words of CTO officials.

Yet while the conference theme, “Realizing the Vision: Positioning Caribbean Tourism for Major Change,” points to the future, there are several measures to indicate that five Caribbean destinations have already hit on winning tourism marketing strategies.

Not surprisingly a close look at five of these destinations offers several similarities, the foremost being stunning natural beauty. Indeed, the Caribbean environment represents the ideal warm-weather paradise, with beautiful beaches, crisp blue waters and consistently sunny skies.

However these islands also feature characteristics that distinguish them from the competition. They range from close proximity to Eastern U.S. cities, which generate the majority of Caribbean travelers from North America, to a distinctive culture, cuisine, music and history.  

The Caribbean countries currently drawing the most visitors have successfully combined these inherent attributes with effective marketing, and in many cases government support in areas including tourism legislation and infrastructure. Here is a look at five of the winners:

Jamaica

The country has traditionally been among the most popular Caribbean destinations. In fact, for some North American travelers, Jamaica’s natural beauty and distinctive cuisine, culture and music define Caribbean vacationing. The country hosted just over two million visitors in 2013, a record total for Jamaica and third overall among CTO countries. Arrivals between January and May of 2014 are higher by 1.6 percent versus 2013 totals.

Jamaica offers a diverse and growing hotel base that run the gamut from intimate boutiques to lushly landscaped upscale hotels, plus large all-inclusive resorts and all manner of properties in between.

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Jamaica’s Ocho Rios tourist district will welcome a revitalization of one of its signature resorts when the former Sunset Jamaica Grande hotel re-opens as Palace Resorts’ Moon Palace Jamaica Grande in early 2015. The all-inclusive operator purchased the property in June.

“We believe Jamaica is the most important tourism destination in the Caribbean, and we found Sunset Jamaica Grande to be the perfect opportunity for us to enter this market,” said Gibran Chapur, Palace Resorts’ executive vice president.

The island’s distinctive cuisine will be on display during November’s Restaurant Week, which will highlight 75 top restaurants in Kingston, Montego Bay and Ocho Rios with three-course, fixed-price lunch specials and dinner menus at up to 50 percent off regular prices. The upcoming Port Antonio Marlin Tournament highlights just one of the country’s many options for adventure-seeking travelers.

St. Lucia

The destination’s visitor arrivals totaled 318,626 in 2013, a healthy 3.9 percent increase that outpaced the collective two percent arrivals increase Caribbean destinations have achieved in 2014, according to CTO officials. That growth has continued in 2014 as St. Lucia’s 176,017 arrivals between January and June are ahead of last year’s pace by six percent.

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St. Lucia’s lush mountains, leafy rainforests and soft white-sand beaches create an idyllic atmosphere that has driven the country’s emergence as a favorite among romantic couples, honeymooners and destination wedding travelers. The Saint Lucia Tourist Board has worked to support its growing identity as a romantic travel destination by sponsoring a “LOVE, Elevated” wedding symposium from September 24 to 28.

The event will feature destination wedding experts including Jennifer Doncsecz, owner and president of VIP Vacations Inc. and Marsha-Ann Brown, director of romance at Sandals Resorts, addressing topics ranging from “Creating Bridal Bliss! What a Bride Expects From a Destination Wedding” to “How to Brand Yourself/How to Close the Sale.” Several St. Lucia hotels are partnering with the event to offer special packages featuring discounted stays and other incentives.

Martinique

Martinique’s 2013 tourist arrival numbers were virtually flat, 489,706 visitors representing a fractional increase of 0.3 percent over the previous year.

However American Airlines’ launch of a second weekly non-stop flight from Miami to Fort de France, plus additional mid-week service beginning November 12, will bring new North American visitors  to one of the Caribbean’s exotic locales.

“The dream of a summer vacation in Martinique can now become reality more easily for more U.S. travelers than in recent years,” said Karine Roy-Camille, commissioner of tourism for the Martinique Tourism Authority. 

In addition to magnificent natural surroundings, Martinique offers travelers some of the Caribbean’s best infrastructure, including a superior highway and road network, with Colonial history, distinctive cuisine and a European flair due to its status as a French overseas territory. There are also many ways to explore the island’s African and creole history, from La Savane des Esclaves in Trois Ilets to Fort de France’s Aime Césaire Theater Museum.

Dominican Republic

Beautiful beaches, diverse all-inclusive resorts, upscale independent hotels, and proximity to key East Coast markets are driving record-breaking tourist arrivals in the Dominican Republic. The country welcomed 445,018 non-resident air arrivals in April, a 14.5 percent increase over 2013 and its largest year-over-year increase ever recorded, according to Francisco Javier Garcia, the country’s tourism minister.

For the period from January to April of 2014 the Dominican Republic recorded 1,841,675 non-resident air arrivals, a six percent increase over the 1,735,638 arrivals over the same period in 2013, said Garcia. U.S. travelers accounted for the largest number of arrivals during the period, totaling 572,184.

The Dominican Republic is already the leading Caribbean vacation destination, according to CTO statistics. The country hosted 4.69 million visitors in 2013, nearly two million more than Cuba, the next-most visited Caribbean country.

The Dominican Republic “has it all,” says Steven Bradley, project manager for the Dominican Republic at MLT Vacations, including “white-sand beaches, world-class hotels and a wide variety of excursions and culture.”

RELATED: Dominican Republic Continues Record Tourism Arrivals Pace

The country’s government is also involved in several projects to enhance its pubic and tourism infrastructure “The government is doing a great job continuing to improve the highway system throughout the country.  Over the last few years they have finished the road from Santo Domingo to Samana, providing customers a short two-hour drive to that region,” he said.

“Also, the investment in Santo Domingo to revitalize the city is very exciting,” said Bradley. “Santo Domingo is a fantastic place to explore and offers so much history and cultural in one of the oldest cities in the Caribbean.”

Cayman Islands

Amidst surging tourist growth on land and sea (145,270 overnight arrivals between January and April and 667,663 cruise ship arrivals in the same period), the Cayman Islands is preparing to launch a redevelopment of Owen Roberts International Airport and the construction of a new cruise ship pier in 2015, according to Moses Kirkconnell, the Cayman Islands’ deputy premier and minister of district administration, tourism and transport.

The Cayman Islands’ airport has been subject to overcrowding during peak times, meaning the re-development will fast-forward the destination’s capacity to handle its growing visitor numbers. “The airport is a problem from the standpoint that it’s better to have too many people going through it than not enough,” Kirkconnell said.

“We recognize that we have to fix the convenience of people passing through the airport because if we don’t, we will lose our repeat guests. We expect to start construction on the new terminal in early 2015,” he said.

Kirkconnell said the destination’s tourism success is the result of careful planning. “We look at what we have been successful with and we spend a large percentage of the marketing money on the core audience,” said Kirkconnell. “Then we look at the cruise arrivals and the air arrivals. We want to be strong on both of those. We don’t want to be dependent on one or the other, we want balance.”