Janet Silvera, Freelance Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
AS THE region action the Caribbean Tourism Organisation's(CTO) call for the "Re-invention of Caribbean Tourism" industry experts are urging that special attention be placed on targeting the lucrative Chinese market, while rapidly revitalising the European market.
China's unprecedented jump in world tourism figures has had a spiralling effect on its economy and a recent report states that the country led Asia by sending 14 million tourists to Europe and North America last year, while the Caribbean struggled to bring its tourist arrival spreadsheet up to standards.
"The Caribbean needs to be attracting tourists from China, it is focusing too much on the Americans," says Dr. Haiyan Song, researcher and professor in tourism economics at the University of Surrey, England.
The United States is definitely the most important market for the Caribbean, it sends 50 per cent of its tourists to the region, but this market has dwindled considerable in the last 18 months.
And according to Dr. Song, who is a Reader in Economics, the Japanese cycle of travel in the Caribbean that seemed extremely promising 12 years ago when it started, is down, but another cycle is about to start with the Chinese.
Dr. Song's remarks were complemented by Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) Executive Director, John Bell, who recently painted a picture of dark days ahead for the lifeblood industry, during a presentation to journalists at the Caribbean Media Exch-ange (CMEx) Conference in Montego Bay.
"China is going to be the next biggest destination in the world," he said. "I advise everyone to pay real attention, the Chinese spend twice as much per head as the Japanese."
Both Dr. Song and John Bell may have hit the nail on the head as the most recently published CTO statistics signifies dismay and gloom for the region if immediate action is not taken.
Of the 32 CTO member countries, only six are reporting an increase in visitor arrivals from the United States during the first six months of 2002 and equally the same number has seen an small percentage growth out of Europe.
Barbados, and the untraditional territories such as Curacoa, Grenada, Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Monsterrat and are holding their own, while the large conventional territories such as Jamaica, Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands, Bermuda. Cayman Islands and St. Lucia are still teetering from the effects of pre and post 9/11.
The larger territories are reporting a decline of two to 16 per cent decrease in visitor arrivals. And so it is felt that the region could not go wrong by promoting itself in the country that boast a population of 1.4 billion people and earned $17.8 billion from international tourists in 2001, up 9.7 per cent from 2000, ranking fifth in profits from tourism after the United States, Spain, France and Italy.
China is poised to dominate the tourism industry by the year 2020, becoming the world's largest tourism destination and the fourth major source of travellers, the country's National Tourism Administration predicts.
Meanwhile Deputy Secretary General of the CTO, Karen Ford-Warner, explains the implications of re-invention, "we cannot continue to do business as we have done in the past and expect to reap the same successes."
Consequently, Mrs. Ford Warner says that technology is of critical importance, expansion and enhancing of the tourism product offerings to include the natural environment, heritage and communities.
"Along with the challenge of re-inventing Caribbean tourism, come the challenge of re-inventing ourselves, and we have to clarify how we see this industry and how we are going to carry it forward," she added.
