Gay Nagle Myers
During the recent Caribbean Marketplace event in Nassau, I walked the aisles on the trade show floor, attended the opening and closing receptions and did more -- a lot more.
I got up close and personal with two of Baha Mar's flamingoes named Baha and Indy, dined on grouper at a private home, toured a hotel new to me called the Island House, sampled Bahamian-made candy from a company named Bootleg Chocolates at a vendor's stand in the convention center, ate ackee and saltfish for breakfast and met members of the Bahamas 1,500-strong military force.
I never did figure out the complicated coffee maker in my Grand Hyatt room.
The highlights for me were conversations with people from many islands who I ran into at meals, on elevators, at receptions and in press conferences.
My takeaway was that the Caribbean overall is in a good place right now, despite some destinations that are still in recovery mode from natural disasters.
The region is doing well in terms of arrival numbers, diversity of offerings for visitors, cruise calls, airlift (although everyone said they could always use more), sustainability initiatives and hotel investments and developments. Data supporting the statistics was presented by enthusiastic tourism ministers, industry representatives, hotel associations and promotion boards.
Here are some snippets from around the show:
Dominic Fedee, a man who wears many hats as St. Lucia's minister of tourism, information, broadcasting, culture and creative industries, reported that the country set records with 423,736 stayover visitors in 2019. "That benefited the entire economy of St. Lucia, as it resulted in more people staying in paid accommodations, taking taxis and enjoying our sites, attractions and restaurants, which created more job opportunities for the local population," he said.
Jamaica's preliminary numbers for air and cruise arrivals in 2019 topped 4.3 million, according to director of tourism Donovan White. "It was a strong year for us, and this one is looking even better," he said, ticking off hotel groundbreakings set to take place, airlift expansions and the opening of the cruise port in Port Royal on the south coast, which he described as "one of the most historic towns in Jamaica.
"A real benefit is that it will integrate Kingston's culture and music into the tourism mix because of its close proximity to Port Royal," he said.
Antigua also had a landmark 2019 year with regard to tourist arrivals, according to Colin James, CEO of the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority. "The U.S. market was up 17%, overall growth was up 15%, we added more than 500 new rooms to our hotel inventory, and our 'What Cool Looks Like' summer marketing campaign last year did just what we wanted it to do: it raised awareness of the destination, drove partner engagement and brought in more visitors," he said.
Anguilla's arrival numbers for 2019 are expected to set records, according to Cardigan Connor, parliamentary secretary for tourism, youth, sports and culture. "We've got global hotel brands, including Belmond, Four Seasons and Hilton's LXR brand in our room inventory, new air access via San Juan and new tours, which are highlighted in our 'Beyond Extraordinary' marketing campaign," Connor said.
Patricia Maher, CEO of the Grenada Tourism Authority, said that 2019 "capped an amazing decade for Grenada. We're energized by what is to come in terms of growth and development for the destination."
She added that Grenada's preliminary visitors numbers in 2019 totaled 525,453. Of that number, stayover arrivals accounted for 162,902 visitors, up 1% over 2018, and cruise arrivals came in at 337,940. With the opening of the Royalton Grenada this year and Kimpton Kawana Bay in 2021, hotel room stock will increase 30%, according to Maher.