With the Caribbean reporting a loss of more than $1 billion in 2021 owing to a stagnation in travel between the region’s destinations, the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) has recommended a concerted effort by the government and private sector leaders to boost intra-regional travel while fostering greater parity, clarity and consistency for travel.
According to CHTA President Nicola Madden-Greig, although international travel to the region has rebounded to 75 percent of pre-pandemic levels, intra-regional business and leisure travel has plunged to around 30 percent, with smaller Caribbean economies and small businesses hit particularly hard.
Madden-Greig said that stimulating intra-regional travel would "dynamize" higher local spending, boost trade in local goods and services, increase government revenues and revitalize local economies. (Regional travelers include Caribbean residents visiting family and friends; attending holiday events, weddings, funerals, reunions and homecomings; conducting business; selling goods and services; participating in training and meetings; and enjoying vacations, festivals, sports and other events.)
The steps proposed for revitalizing sluggish local economies include increasing services to revive regional air travel, reducing COVID-19 testing costs, cutting testing time and shrinking long isolation periods. CHTA also recommends an air travel tax/fee holiday or reduction, similar to that which was proposed to Caribbean leaders by Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne, who is leading by example with fee reductions for his country.
Additionally, the CHTA says, more uniform and consistent regional travel protocols would reduce traveler uncertainty, while health safety diligence and increased vaccinations were necessary to resume local festivals and events—key elements of intra-regional travel.
Reiterating the importance of consistency, CHTA, which speaks for private sector tourism stakeholders, recommended lifting travel barriers that add to travelers’ cost and uncertainty, and implementing low-risk protocols to stimulate travel. Such protocols would include asking all travelers in the region to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 antigen test result 24 hours prior to departure when traveling from one Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country to another.
CHTA also recommended the removal of on-arrival testing—and pre-departure testing (when returning home)—for fully vaccinated asymptomatic travelers within CARICOM jurisdictions, while non-vaccinated travelers would be required to follow the standard protocols for international travelers. Reducing the profusion of taxes and fees leveled on travelers would be a significant boost to intra-regional travel, and CHTA repeated its call for a reduction of travel taxes and fees—a move which the association stated was supported by various organizations, including the Caribbean Development Bank.
The group reported movement by some governments on working with major regional airlines and the accommodations sector to launch travel incentives to promote intra-regional travel. The measures being proposed by CHTA met with receptivity by regional air carriers, who indicated that the return of intra-regional travelers is critical to their viability.
CHTA lastly called on regional airlines such as Bahamasair, Caribbean Airlines, Cayman Airways, interCaribbean Airways and LIAT to work collectively with both the public and private sectors to seamlessly stimulate intra-regional travel.
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