CHA´s Top Brass Bugged Over New U.S. Passport Requirements

The Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) has released the findings of an economic impact study of the new United States passport regulation that will require US citizens visiting the Caribbean to be in possession of a valid US passport to re-enter the US, effective January 1, 2006.

The study, conducted by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) on behalf of CHA, considered the market share of visitors from the United States to the Caribbean and the percentage of those visitors that do not use a valid US passport and examined these figures against total visitor exports earnings in the region, which total $20.7 billion.

The study concluded that in the Caribbean, as much as $2.6 billion of visitor export earnings and more than 188,000 Travel & Tourism jobs could be at stake. These findings were presented last week at the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Board of Directors meeting in New York.

"CHA can appreciate U.S. concern for its security, but cannot lose sight of the impact of the new regulations on Caribbean travel and tourism, which will be a permanent realignment of traffic, with spontaneous, last minute travel significantly reduced," said CHA President Berthia Parle.

"Our position advocates an extension of time for the Caribbean to the same introductory date as Mexico and Canada, January 1, 2008, to allow the region´s tourism to prepare better."