Cruise passenger arrivals record set in 2017

Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Acting Director for Research Ryan Skeete has indicated that cruise passenger arrivals set a new landmark in 2017, reaching an estimated 27 million visits to the region. This, he said, was 2.4 per cent higher than recorded numbers in 2016.

“The cruise passenger performance mirrors the performance of tourist arrivals as it grew strongly (4.6 per cent) in the first half of 2017 but contracted marginally (-0.4 per cent) in the second half of the year. Indeed, cruise passenger arrivals fell dramatically in September by some 20 per cent. However, growth resumed in October, which saw a two per cent increase,” Skeete added.

For his part, secretary general of the CTO Hugh Riley said that despite the glowing numbers in both revenues and visitor arrivals, the Caribbean is yet to maximise its full potential and can do better.

“Tourism is the business that delivers foreign exchange every time a plane lands and a cruise ship docks. It reduces unemployment and delivers massive amounts of tax dollars to our national treasuries,” Riley emphasised.

“Therefore, we should worry when we’re not using this jobcreating, tax-generating, foreign-exchange-earning machine to its full potential. We should worry when the rate of occupancy across the region is still below 70 per cent. This tells us that we have an opportunity – indeed, a responsibility – to market ourselves more effectively, to fill those empty rooms.

“Until we do those things, we are not capitalising on the substantial investment we have already made to build the plant in the first place, and we are leaving ourselves vulnerable to further erosion of our competitive position,” he added.