Travel Stakeholders Keep their Sight on the Post-Covid-19 Future

Caribbean News…
30 April 2020 11:01pm
thinking outside the box

Travel and tourism organizations worldwide remain pretty much wary on the future of the industry on the road ahead once the coronavirus pandemic is over and the recovery process gets underway. 

During a Caribbean Tourism Organization webinar held today under the title “The Future of Caribbean Tourism - Key Considerations for the Covid-19 Recovery”, Virginia Messina, Managing Director of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) said that “while the layout of the region has worked in our favor during the pandemic, it is really more than ever important for the Caribbean to come together and bring the private sector in. This collaboration will really make things different and speed up the recovery,” she said, during the question and answer segment.

For his part Alejandro Valera, Deputy Regional Director for the Americas of the UNWTO, added that “the Caribbean has to have only one voice, you don’t have too many infected people so you can work together with the rest of your customers, but it is important to have negotiation only through one voice and with the stakeholders, the airlines, the cruises and the hotels”.

The panelists agreed that in the immediate future, tourism will be mainly domestic since visitors will be reluctant to travel and would prefer to do trips that they can drive too.

Mrs. Messina said when those in the major source market in the United States, are open to doing short flights, that will work in the Caribbean’s favor. She went on to say that in the process, intra-regional travel will be the second phase in the restoration of the tourism industry.

“Initially we see people looking at staycations but the second phase will be within the same continent, potentially travelling to the other territories that could restart tourism and get some of the companies to benefit while it won’t be on the levels we were experiencing last year,” she said.

Speaking of the state of the Caribbean since the region’s first reported case of COVID-19 in February, Neil Walters, Acting Secretary-General of the CTO, said there was a 15.4 percent reduction in the level of arrivals for the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same period last year.

The estimated reduction in arrivals for 2020 compared to 2019 was 39.7 percent. According to STR, hotel occupancy reached 10 percent by the end of March. Cruise arrivals decreased by 19.1 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2019.

Mr. Walters revealed that a minimum projection of a 50 percent reduction in stayover arrivals would take the region back to its 1995/1996 figures, a reversal of 25 years of growth.

Looking at measures the region’s tourism industry has to take Post-COVID-19, Walters said the new normal will be a significant integration of tourism and public health which will become necessary as there will be required public health monitoring at ports of entry.

Countries will also have to ensure the ability of their health systems to manage the potential of new cases once borders are reopened and establish protocols based on international standards to ensure discipline and consistency necessary for effective results and ensuring confidence.

He said any marketing of the Caribbean will have to have as part of its bedrock being able to show the region is a safe and healthy destination. He said health and wellness is a potential marketing point for the region as well as the diversity of the Caribbean product.

Source: Loop (Trinidad & Tobago)

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