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Financial News

Feb 2016 Financial News

T&T’s tourism grows

Feb 17, 2016

T&T has achieved the highest percentage increase in cruise passenger visits in the Caribbean for 2015, the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) reported yesterday.

In its State of the Industry Report 2015, the regional body said this country recorded an increase of 104 per cent and was ahead of Bonaire with 74.2 per cent and British Virgin Islands, 43.1 per cent.

The CTO said T&T was also among the destinations with the highest growth rates in arrivals from the United States market, with an increase of 14.9 per cent, behind Barbados (27.6 per cent) and Curaçao (15.3 per cent).

CTO secretary general Hugh Riley, speaking at a media briefing where the findings of the latest report were announced, said for the first time ever the pace of growth of Caribbean tourism had outperformed every major tourism region in the world.

“Our region has set new arrival and spend records in 2015, far surpassing expectations,” he said.

The report shows that Caribbean tourism grew by an estimated seven per cent to 28.7 million visits, much higher than the projected four to five per cent and above the global rate of growth, which the World Tourism Organization puts at 4.4 per cent.

Visitors to the region spent over a billion dollars more than they did in 2014, contributing approximately US$30 billion to Caribbean economies—4.2 per cent higher than the US$28.8 billion spent the previous year.

The CTO reported growth in all the major markets—the United States, Canada, Europe, the Caribbean and South America—with the intra-regional market performing better than it has ever done before.

“Despite concerns about the cost of travel within the region, the intra-Caribbean travel recorded its best performance since we started keeping records. In 2015, traffic from the Caribbean market accounted for six per cent of total arrivals into the region, with 1.7 million visits among the various states, an increase of 11.4 per cent over the previous year,” the CTO secretary general said.

Riley added: “While the outlook for 2016 is positive, we must continue to monitor some possible hurdles like the volatility of the economy of some of our main markets, China’s economic slowdown and the continuation of recessions in Brazil and other South American countries. We have seen in recent weeks the dramatic falls in stock markets around the world and other extraneous factors which invariably impact travel.”

He noted, however, that the outlook for the region is positive with falling oil prices and the strength of the US dollar expected to have positive impacts on key source markets.

“All factors considered, the CTO is forecasting a 4.5 per cent to 5.5 per cent increase in tourist arrivals in 2016,” he said

Ryan Skeete, CTO’s acting director of Research & IT , said 2015 was the second consecutive year that tourist arrivals to the Caribbean grew faster than the global growth rate. He said the average annual growth rate over the last five years exceeded the average annual global growth rate of international trips.

There was a seven per cent increase in international trips to the Caribbean, some 28.7 million arrivals.

“Lower oil prices, a strong US dollar, improved economic growth in our major source markets and extra airline seat capacity to the region are all expected to positively impact tourism performance in the Caribbean, while uncertainty about the impact of the mosquito-borne disease Zika persists, the implications of the economic slowdown of China, the world’s largest economy, and the continuation of recessions in Brazil and Venezuela will temper our optimism,” Skeete said.

 

Source:
Trinidad Guardian
Wednesday February 17, 2016

http://www.guardian.co.tt/business/2016-02-16/tt%E2%80%99s-tourism-grows