The Caribbean has been performing very strongly late in 2021 and is poised for a great year in 2022, Caribbean tourism officials and other experts say.
Speaking at a Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association virtual meeting this week, Nicola Madden-Greig, president of the CHTA, said things have improved drastically in the region since the height of the pandemic.
“We are recovering, and we are recovering well,” she said.
Madden-Greig said tourism levels late this year are roughly 70% of what they were in 2019, which was a phenomenal year for Caribbean tourism.
She also noted that testing of travellers in the Caribbean show the region has one of the lowest COVID-19 positivity rates in the world.
The World Health Organization’s safe positivity rate is five per cent, but Madden-Greig said many Caribbean destinations have a positivity rate of less than one per cent.
“There’s no better place in the world to recover,” she said.
Olivier Ponti, Vice President Insights for Forward Key, said the Caribbean in November of this year was down only 16% from 2019 visitor levels. That compares to -37% for the Americas, -48% for Europe and minus 88% for Asia/Pacific.
Ponti said business for the U.S. Virgin Islands is up 41% over 2019 levels, while the Dominican Republic and the Turks and Caicos each are up 13%.
Ponti said 2022 bookings for the Caribbean were down only 17% from 2019 levels.
The CHTA earlier this week urged governments around the world not to enact new travel bans or travel restrictions. Having the Canadian government suggest a “no international travel” policy on Wednesday was a blow to the region, but CHTA officials said they’ll be contacting the Canadian government to make their case.
Stats show the ten most popular destinations for booking in the Caribbean for this year are, in order, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, The Bahamas, The U.S. Virgin Islands, Aruba, The Turks and Caicos, Sint Maarten, Saint Lucia and Barbados.
