Photo: Unsplash

By Frank Martin

The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) decided to take the bull by the horns in the midst of the risks facing tourism in the region and called on the experts and personalities of the sector to “update” customers throughout the world about the industry’s responses to their concerns.

And these concerns are justified. The tourism closely linked Travelzoo announced that a March survey of its specialists showed that 68 per cent of surveyed customers researched travel ideas, 35 per cent booked domestic and international travel, while 21 per cent one hundred percent had traveled.

The good news is that Caribbean destinations remain one of the best options for people looking to take a trip in this troubled 2022.

On that optimistic basis, the association called on its tourism officials to stay abreast of customer concerns and keep them updated on changes to the COVID-19 protocol.

Another result was that 83 percent of those surveyed said they felt confident that they could travel safely, while 84 percent said they were vaccinated and received a booster.

Another conclusion is that for Canadians, French and Spanish, the Caribbean islands rank high among the world’s clientele no matter how bad the situation could be.

All the answers are considered really important if one takes into account that two great enemies of tourism are on the loose: Covid-19 and the European war.

As expected, stock market operations in Europe are already at the beginning of this April as the most affected by the war. Including tourism.

The forecasts, even without knowing how long this war will be is that the impact that the world tourism industry will receive will be devastating and not only in the old continent if one takes into account that a large part of the vacation visitors to the Caribbean and other places come from that part of the world.

Not only losses are feared. The worst, according to specialists consulted, would be a prolonged war that breaks the world balance for the element that hurts the most: oil.

However, there is a certainty that a war causes unspeakable deaths number and destruction and also requires seas of money to maintain active.

Pandemic forecasts don’t look much better, and some unconfirmed forecasts suggest that it will be difficult to approach pre-pandemic levels.

However the terrible global panorama of the year, reopening are maintained in most of the world, especially in America and within this continent, the Caribbean.

Regional specialists consulted by TTC did not speak of figures, but said they have the perception that tourists continue to arrive because the war has not been able to “cool off” in their decisions to travel again.

That is a good prediction, perhaps still very optimistic, but without a doubt it reflects the best wishes to advance despite the gigantic obstacles.

FM