Turks & Caicos’ Tourism Officials Expect Double-Digit Increase in Arrivals

Turks & Caicos’ Tourism Officials Expect Double-Digit Increase in Arrivals
(The Turks & Caicos Sun)

Bubbling from the bullish holiday arrivals which saw resorts across the country recording an average of 90 percent occupancy rate, the Turks and Caicos Islands Hotels and Tourism Association (TCHTA) is aiming for a ten percent increase this year in stopover visitors over the 2009/2020 winter season.

Chief Executive Officer for the TCHTA, Caesar Campbell, told The SUN that he is confident that the 10 percent arrival increase goal will be achieved based on, among other factors, the increase in airlifts scheduled to come on stream within the next few weeks.

“I think that the marketing which the hotel industry has done individually and collectively will drive business here, and also we are in the cold winter season, so certainly, it will help us. We are hoping that it would be good for business within the cold winter season, providing that people (travelers) can get out. We had a very strong holiday season, and we expect the rest of the winter season to be very strong as well,” Campbell said.

U.S. visitors to the Caribbean are rebounding, with arrivals up 8.3 percent in the past high season of January through April of 2010 compared with the prior-year period, says the Caribbean Tourism Organization.

In the meantime, Campbell pointed out that the tourism arrival number for last season is in danger of being shattered since forward booking records have been showing another wave of arrivals from, especially the United States, to the Turks and Caicos Islands in February.

“I think so, because we have more than this (current occupancy) coming in February. As you know, Continental Airlines and JetBlue will be coming, so we are projecting to achieve (more) over last year. We are aiming for an increase – hopefully a 10 percent increase over last year,” Campbell further stated.

Starting February 17, JetBlue will fly from New York's JFK Airport to the Providenciales International Airport, and Continental is scheduled to start service from Newark.

JetBlue, which offered just three percent of the seats between the U.S. and the Caribbean in 2005, now offers more than 15 percent, according to the Boyd and Innovata data. That makes the New York-based carrier number two in the region by seats offered behind AMR Corp.'s American Airlines.

By next summer, JetBlue plans to have 23 percent of its total capacity in Latin America and the Caribbean, compared with about 10 percent in 2008, says Scott Laurence, JetBlue's vice president of network planning.

Asked about the role of the Tourist Board in the scheme of things based on recent developments with that sector, Campbell noted that the Hotel and Tourism Association and the Tourist Board initiated a $400,000 marketing campaign with JetBlue, which he said should yield rich reward in the close future.

The Tourist Board, in the past two years, has been rendered financially handicapped, annulling its ability to pay its local and international bills, thereby opening the door to a slew of lawsuits, which the Interim Government has been struggling to settle.