Caribbean's First Post-Hurricane Tourism Report

The strong visitor arrivals growth posted by Caribbean destinations in the first-half of 2017 will slow significantly during the second half and throughout 2018 as islands wracked by Hurricanes Irma and Maria work to rebuild their tourism infrastructure, Caribbean tourism officials said Friday.

Caribbean destinations posted a 5.2 percent year-over-year visitor arrivals increase between January and June of 2017, said Joy Jibrilu, chairman of the board of directors of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), at the group’s “State of the Industry” conference in Grenada.

However, the region’s strong arrivals growth will dwindle to between one and two percent in the second half of 2017 through 2018, Jibrilu said.

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The Caribbean had been poised for another year of significant visitor growth before the storms struck, she said. The 28 destinations tracked by CTO recorded 16.6 million international tourist arrivals in first six months of 2017, an increase of 800,000 travelers compared with the first six months of 2016.

Arrivals growth was recorded in all major source markets with the exception of South America, which declined by 14.3 percent. Conversely, European visitors to the Caribbean increased by 7.9 percent during the period while Canadian visitors grew by 6.4 percent and UK visitors increased by 4.8 percent despite currency issues.

The mostly positive results reflect “economic stability in the market, expansion and inauguration of flights by major carriers, and new marketing and product development initiatives,” said Jibrilu.

Cruise passenger arrivals in the Caribbean (the cruise industry’s primary deployment region), also exhibited first-half growth. Caribbean cruise travelers totaled 15.3 million between January and June of this year, a 4.0 percent increase compared with 2016.

In addition, “This performance represented the largest number of cruise passengers in the region at this time of year,” said Jibrilu.

Yet the destructive impact of Hurricanes Irma and Maria will slow the region’s arrivals considerably, despite Caribbean organizational and government initiatives to update consumers on recovery milestones and encourage travelers to visit unaffected regions parts of the region.

“With the passage of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the growth rate will slow down in the remaining quarters of the year,” Jibrilu said. “Hence the expected growth rate of tourist arrivals will range between 1.0 percent and 2.0 percent in 2017, with the 2018 performance expected to be similar.”

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Caribbean hoteliers posted mixed results amidst the first-half visitor arrivals growth. Average occupancy increased by 0.2 percent to 70.8 percent during the first half of 2017 according to data from travel research firm STR.

Average daily room rate also rose slightly in the first half by 0.2 percent, increasing to $221.38 in 2017 compared with $220.84 in 2016.