The Bahamas-Caribbean Tourism Picture

The Bahamas archipelago was headed for another strong tourism year prior to Hurricane Dorian’s arrival in early September. While areas most popular with American visitors, including New Providence (home to Nassau) and Paradise Island, were spared, residential and tourist areas in Abaco and Grand Bahama Island suffered a devastating loss of life and catastrophic infrastructure damage.

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Officials at numerous Caribbean groups are organizing support for Bahamas residents affected by the hurricane. The Caribbean Tourism Organization activated its Hurricane Relief Fund, established to assist Caribbean nations rebuild following disasters. The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association launched an online auction via bidding firm Charitybuzz to help “support the long-term recovery of the northwestern islands of the Bahamas,” said officials in a statement.

In addition to New Providence and Paradise Island, the majority of Bahamian destinations, including commonly visited islands—among them the Exumas, Eleuthera, Harbour Island, Bimini, Andros, The Berry Islands, Cat Island—were not affected by Dorian.

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The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Aviation is encouraging travelers to visit these regions. “Maintaining a robust tourism industry will be vital in helping the country to recover and rebuild,” said Dionisio D’Aguilar, the Bahamas’ minister of tourism and aviation. “We would like everyone to know the best thing they can do for us now is to visit Nassau, Paradise Island and the Out Islands,” he said.

The Bahamas’ tourism success prior to Dorian was mirrored in other Caribbean destinations in 2019. Several countries posted increased land and sea visitor arrivals.

St. Maarten

Visitor arrivals trended sharply higher in the first six months of 2019, said St. Maarten Tourist Bureau officials. St. Maarten hosted 171,543 land-based visitors in the first half of 2019, compared with 177,589 visitors in all of 2018.

Tourism officials said they attribute the increase to hotel reopenings in the fourth quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019, along with major airlines increasing service to the island. In addition, tour operators are also reporting strong numbers, including substantial growth in sales and room nights.

The first-half of 2019 arrivals include 92,285 visitors from the U.S. and 15,683 Canadian arrivals, compared with 67,533 American and 9,162 Canadian visitors during the same period one year earlier.

Curacao

The island posted strong first-half 2019 visitor arrivals, including a 17 percent increase year-over-year through May, “with all markets showing positive growth,” said Paul Pennicook, CEO of the Curaçao Tourist Board.

Curaçao’s strong early 2019 arrivals have been driven in part by North American arrivals. Travelers from North America increased 19 percent year-over-year in early 2019, said officials.

St. Lucia

Tourism officials are forecasting a significant increase in 2019 visitor arrivals based on first-half data. Overnight land-based arrivals for June 2019 peaked at 34,040, up 9 percent from June of 2018, marking the destination’s fifth record-breaking month of the year.

Contributing to the growth were increases from the island’s main source markets, with Canada increasing 20 percent, the U.S. increasing 17 percent, Germany growing 31 percent and the Caribbean 7 percent.

“The growth can be attributed to multiple factors,” said Beverly Nicholson-Doty, the St. Lucia Tourism Authority’s’ CEO. “Among them is the increased airlift from the U.S.,” via new flights from American Airlines, WestJet and Air Canada, she added. “St. Lucia looks well poised to meet and surpass the record 1.2 million visitors it welcomed in 2018,” Nicholson-Doty said.