- Caribbean tourism destinations continue their journey towards some semblance of normality.
- While the tourist arrivals continued to lag pre-pandemic numbers, the first half-year performance was boosted by a second-quarter spurt.
- By the end of May arrivals were at 5.2 million, down 30.8% for the corresponding period in 2020, considerably better than the global average of a 65.1% decline.
As Caribbean tourism destinations continue their journey towards some semblance of normality, preliminary data from member countries of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) reveal that the region outperformed the rest of the world in the first half of 2021.
During this period, international tourist arrivals to the Caribbean reached 6.6 million, representing a 12.0 percent decline when compared to the same period last year. By the end of May arrivals were at 5.2 million, down 30.8 percent for the corresponding period in 2020, considerably better than the global average of a 65.1 percent decline. Of the main regions analyzed, The Americas, which included the Caribbean, registered a 46.9 percent drop, otherwise, no other region performed better than a 63 percent fall in arrivals.
While the tourist arrivals continued to lag pre-pandemic numbers, the first half-year performance was boosted by a second-quarter spurt when overnight tourist visits to the Caribbean jumped between ten and 37 times greater than those in the corresponding months in 2020. In absolute terms, there was a steady improvement, as arrival numbers increased from one million in April to 1.2 million in May to 1.5 million in June, according to data compiled by the CTO’s research department.
Among the reasons for the strong second quarter was a rise in outbound travel from the region’s primary market, the United States, from which tourist visits reached 4.3 million in the first half of the year, a 21.7 percent increase. Other contributing factors included the easing of some travel restrictions and an increase in airlift.
Tags: Caribbean tourism destinations
