Monday, March 10 2008

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados: The Caribbean’s travel and tourism industry is projected to generate almost US$57 billion this year and Trinidad and Tobago is expected to lead Caricom countries with an expected 8.4 percent growth in visitors.

According to the results of the latest Tourism Satellite Accounting (TSA) research, the Caribbean tourism industry will almost double over the next ten years, making the region a total of US$100.5 billion. But the figures still fall below the world average.

The results of the study were released on Thursday by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and its strategic partner Accenture.

Overall the TSA results reveal moderate growth for travel and tourism demand in 2008, growing at 2.3 percent. Long-term forecasts point to a stable phase of growth between 2009 and 2018 with the rate of growth averaging 3.2 percent each year.

Even though the world average has dropped, rate of growth is still higher at 3 percent for this year and 4.4 percent per annum between 2009 and 2018, which themselves have also fallen.

“The global economic downturn is having a considerable impact on mature travel and tourism economies,” explained WTTC President Jean-Claude Baumgarten.

“With new emerging markets growing rapidly and undertaking massive tourism-related investment programmmes, the Caribbean must focus on its long-term development in order to keep up with the competition of these new tourism destinations.” Of the Caribbean countries, TT is expected to experience the highest level of growth in 2008 at 8.4per cent, followed by Saint Kitts and Nevis at 5.6 percent and Saint Lucia at 5.1 percent.

Among the largest economies, Puerto Rico leads with travel and tourism demand accounting for US $10.8 billion, followed by Dominican Republic.

With a shared annual growth rate of 4.9 percent Martinique and Guadeloupe are expected to grow the fastest by 2018.

In comparison to the other 12 regions that the TSA research covers, the Caribbean is the most dependent region on tourism in terms of its contribution to the national economy. It contributes to 12.9 percent of the region’s employment in 2008, approximately two million jobs.