Caribbean Region Reports Mixed Results in Tourism Growth

Caribbean Region Reports Mixed Results in Tourism Growth

The Caribbean region’s tourism growth has been “subdued” following the global recession, said a top International Monetary Fund (IMF) official. Although he predicted tourist arrivals in the Caribbean will increased by 3.5 percent in 2010 compared with the same period last year, Gilbert Terrier, IMF's senior advisor for the Western Hemisphere, at the launch of the Regional Economic Outlook, called tourism’s growth in the region “uneven,” saying some islands are doing better than others.

“Smaller islands in the region have experienced a sharper and more prolonged decline in arrivals than some of the larger islands,” Terrier said at an IMF meeting in Kingston, as reported by the Jamaica Gleaner this week. “Destinations that significantly reduced hotel prices following the crisis experienced milder declines in arrivals,” said Terrier. “For example, hotels in the Dominican Republic and Jamaica lowered prices more than other countries and did not experience a decline in the number of tourist arrivals. In contrast, hotels in the Bahamas and Barbados were more reluctant to reduce prices and their tourist arrivals fell."

Terrier’s comments come as Jamaica is reporting tourist arrivals for the first half of 2010 surpassed one million visitors, according to Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s tourism minister. A total of 1,010,896 foreigners visited the island between Jan. 1 and June 30, a 4.1 percent increase over the figures for the similar period last year, according to a report in the Jamaica Observer.