An opportunity to advance Caribbean...

of the disposable income of travellers from more economically advanced nations.

As recent developments indicate, the industry is not short of problems that require joined up solutions whether they relate to the high cost of energy, security, airlift or sargassum.

Statistics suggest that despite the Caribbean continuing to experience buoyant visitor arrivals numbers, the industry in the region may not this year experience a commensurate overall rise in earnings, and could begin to suffer if as some international financial institutions forecast, changing US trade policy results in a global economic slowdown.

According to the industry analysts STR (formerly known as Smith Travel Research) this year Caribbean hotels have experienced a decline in revenue per available room (RevPAR), a key industry measure of profitability, and a fall in occupancy rates, possibly signalling longer-term economic problems.

STR said that while hoteliers continued to increase the average daily rate (ADR) charged, this was not enough to drive RevPAR and thus profitability upwards. It forecast that 2019 will end with a 1.1% increase in ADR and a 0.3% rise in RevPAR over 2018, but a slight decrease in hotel occupancy of minus 0.8%.

This is the type of data which CTO needs to do more to develop and apply to regional tourism policy if weaknesses are to be addressed and tourism is to become a sustainable force for economic development.

A revitalised CTO could also support a serious debate about future growth: one that does not avoid difficult questions relating to longer term strategies on cruise tourism, aviation taxation, chain hotels, changing consumer requirements and who pays and benefits from the cost of marketing.

Well considered, change in in CTO could be a force for regional good, especially if its research and future actions encourage all Caribbean ministers and Prime Minister to respond more positively when tourism touches their portfolio.

Minister Fedee and his fellow tourism ministers will have done the region and its external partners a great service if a renewed CTO working closely with its private sector counterparts can share and deliver a new public a vison of tourism’s future role.