Gay Nagle Myers
Two takeaways from last week's Caribbean Travel Marketplace: Puerto Rico is on the comeback trail, and optimism for a strong 2018 in the Caribbean region is the highest it's been in years, according to Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) CEO Frank Comito.
"Our story is the greatest build-back story in history," said Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello, who addressed delegates at the opening of the conference, which was held at the convention center in San Juan. He cited major milestones in the recovery process, including the return of cruise ships, which will bring 1.04 million passengers to San Juan by the end of June; air access, which by summer will be on par with the same levels as last summer; hotel inventory, which currently numbers more than 12,000 rooms in 122 hotels, with more coming online each week; and more than 120 attractions and 4,000 restaurants open.
Although there are communities and rural outposts that remain in the dark and hundreds of FEMA and construction crews from the mainland are still hard at work, the main tourist areas are up and running quite smoothly.
There's work still to be done, for sure, and many voluntourism opportunities abound for visitors who want to pitch in.
"2018 is our year of transition and recovery," said Carla Campos, acting executive director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Co. "What we need now are visitors to support our small-business owners, fill our flights and hotels, book our meeting spaces and visit our attractions."
Presenting the picture for the larger region in 2018, the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) cited strong industry performance for Q1 through Easter and more than 74 projects totaling 17,974 rooms in the hotel pipeline.
"The Caribbean was on course in 2017 for a record-breaking year in terms of visitors and revenues until the hurricanes when bookings stopped for the entire region," said Karolin Troubetzkoy, the CHTA's president.
"That disaster challenged us in many areas, not the least of which was the need to explain the geography of the region to consumers and the trade," she said. "Publicity surrounding the September storms did not differentiate between affected and nonaffected islands, and the Caribbean brand was threatened."
In response, the CHTA rolled out a One Caribbean Family initiative, under which many hotel members in the nonaffected islands, tour operators and airlines pledged a dollar amount from new bookings to recovery efforts through a partnership with the CHTA and Tourism Cares. Others created their own fundraising drives.
"These efforts demonstrated a resolve to work together to strengthen the resilience of our islands to showcase and broaden the diverse product offerings of the region and increase visitor arrivals," Troubetzkoy said.
Even as recovery programs continue on some of the affected islands, data shows that hotels across the region are optimistic about a strong year.
Results from the CHTA's recent Annual Industry Performance and Outlook Study indicate that hotel room rates are expected to increase for 52% of surveyed properties; nearly half expect to grow occupancy; 68% will invest more in capital improvements; and more than half anticipate revenue increases.
"Close to 60% of hoteliers have a positive outlook for 2018, and we expect this momentum to continue," Comito said.
The CHTA plans to roll out a new regional marketing initiative with its public-sector partners in the coming weeks that will celebrate and promote the Caribbean brand.