Q & A with Carol Hay, Marketing Director for Europe and the United Kingdom, CTO

Airlift from source markets has become a must for destinations in order to get the most of business in the cruise industry. Besides airlift, labeled as “inadequate and too expensive” by regional tourism leaders, the economic crisis and taxes, such as the UK’s Air Passenger Duty, have also been challenging the Caribbean travel industry in the last few years. However, the region has remained very competitive, says Carol Hay, Marketing Director for Europe and the United Kingdom, who talked to CND about other issues, like sustainable tourism and attendance to European travel shows.

How is the German market doing for the Caribbean right now?
The German market is a very welcoming market for the Caribbean and there is a lot of business potential still for us. Some destinations are doing very well with the German market, but of course, to do well in any market you need to have the airlift, so it’s almost a given fact if a destination has airlift out of Germany into the country or island that they will see some positive growth in their figures.

As to the European market, have you seen like tourist growth in recent months?
During 2012, the European market was a challenging market for the Caribbean and, out of the UK market, Air Passenger Duty has had an impact because this increased tax can sometimes make the Caribbean seem to be less competitive. But, of course, the Caribbean is still very competitive. Out of other European markets there has been the challenge of airlift and also the economy has been quite challenging across Europe with unemployment.

So, there have been a number of reasons why at the end of 2012 we did not see the growth in tourism that we would have liked to see. But having said that, overall in 2012 visitors to the Caribbean did grow, but that was because of the strength in the North American markets. The European market was challenged.

Is the Spanish market going to ratchet up its stance for the Caribbean or it is still the least important niche for Europe?
It’s not that the Spanish market isn’t important. The Spanish market is very important to the Caribbean, but with the challenge in airlift and the challenge in the economy that the Spanish people are facing, we have seen a decline from the Spanish market into a number of Caribbean countries.

So, it’s not that the market isn’t important, but at the same time, as destination marketers we have to target the markets which have good airlift and good air links into the Caribbean.

In terms of promotion, you’ve been here in ITB and you’ll be in World Travel Market. Are there any expectations to attend FITUR 2014?
You know, we would love to go to back to FITUR and we will be working with our representatives to have a look at the Spanish market, to see if there are any growth indicators and if there are, then yes it’s a market that we would definitely want to go back into, we want to be at FITUR.

But if there are challenges and the market is still not open up for us, then we might have to wait until 2015, but it’s not a decision we’re going to make now. The goal is to work with the Spanish market, but, of course, you have to be aware what the fact is, which impact on business.

Talking about the Caribbean islands, I attended an event in St. Martin last year and they were talking about intraregional airlift. What about that?
Yes. Intraregional travel is very important to the Caribbean. For many of our visitors from Europe going to the Caribbean is, of course, long-haul travel and once they travel to the Caribbean we want them to expand the visitor experience by visiting as many destinations in the Caribbean as possible.

And LIAT, the Caribbean airline, they are here, with us in Germany, and they made a presentation this morning where they spoke about the expansion of their network, the expansion of their fleet and the increased attention to the customer experience.

So, yes, definitely through the work with LIAT, the intraregional carrier, we will be able to offer greater opportunities to island-hop to visitors to the Caribbean. And not only visit islands because, as well as the Spanish-, the Dutch-, the French- and the English-speaking islands, we of course have countries such as Venezuela, Guyana and Belize who are also members of the Caribbean Tourism Organization.

So, we really want to work with LIAT to ensure that visitors to the Caribbean can have as wide experience by visiting more than one place.

Sustainable tourism is an important issue for the Caribbean. How are you going to promote it or how are you going to convey that feeling to potential tourists?
Sustainable tourism is very important to the Caribbean. Between April 15th and 16th we will be hosting this Sustainable Tourism Conference in Trinidad & Tobago. That’s the 14th conference for us and the Caribbean being predominately island states means that we have to pay a lot of attention to our coastline, biodiversity, to the protection of our corals and it’s so important to us that in talking about sustainability we develop across the Caribbean a tourism product that continues to benefit the communities.

It’s also important to us that we look at energy-saving projects, that we look at waste disposal and we look at the impact of visitors to our island states. So, sustainability is critical for the Caribbean and what we want to do is to continuously introduce green issues in our hotels. We want to work with our visitors to ensure that without spoiling their experience, to be careful with our water, with the use of water, with the use of electricity, with the use of chemicals, and throughout the Caribbean we grow so many wonderful fruits and it’s also important for us to ensure that the visitors sample the indigenous food, culture, heritage of the Caribbean, because that’s what makes us unique.

So, sustainability for us is not only about the environment, it’s about the people, it’s about our culture, it’s about our heritage and it’s about ensuring that we continue to have a tourism product for our children and their children to inherit.

Nowadays, gastronomy and culture are very important to tourists. How is the Caribbean going to explode the region’s cuisine?
One of the most fantastic things about the Caribbean is that we grow a lot of projects in the Caribbean and we always try to incorporate a lot of herbs, spices, vegetables, fruits into our cuisine.

So, I think that as long as the hotel work with farmers and the work with culinary experts to ensure that the taste of the Caribbean remains authentic, we will continue to be a leading destination where gastronomic efforts are concerned; and as far as music is concerned, what it’s really a live concert hall of the Caribbean in terms of carnivals, festivals, musical events and we produce some of the greatest superstars at the world scene, ranging from Bob Marley to Rihanna, Sean Paul, you know, so many entertainers out of the Caribbean.

I think that, as a region, if you talk about music, if you talk about sports, if you talk about culture, the Caribbean has been able to match any country in the world in terms of the athletes and the musicians we have produced.

Russia is one of the emerging regions that send out tourists. How do you promote the Caribbean region in those countries?
Like all destinations, we are targeting the great markets, the emerging countries and, for us, out of the UK, we are targeting the Russian market for the Caribbean and we are currently working to have a road show to St. Petersburg and Moscow at the end of May where Caribbean tourism delegations will be going into these markets to meet with key tour operators and travel agents to discuss the product that we have and to look for ways in which we can work with the Russian market to continue to grow business to the Caribbean.

Does CTO or any individual country go to MITT or Leisure in Russia?
You know what? We do have individual countries that go to MITT. CTO has not looked at it yet from the Caribbean perspective, but I think it’s one of the events that we could be looking at for 2014 if the market indicates that it is necessary for us to be there.