{"id":117151,"date":"2020-09-19T08:48:47","date_gmt":"2020-09-19T12:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=117151"},"modified":"2020-09-19T08:48:47","modified_gmt":"2020-09-19T12:48:47","slug":"better-times-not-far-away-for-caribbean-tourism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/better-times-not-far-away-for-caribbean-tourism\/","title":{"rendered":"Better Times Not Far Away For Caribbean Tourism"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Visitation to the Caribbean was down nearly 50% for the first six months of this year, but better times are ahead, Caribbean tourism officials say.<\/p>

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Speaking to the media on a Zoom call on Wednesday, Caribbean Tourism Organization Secretary General (acting) Neil Walters said the first half of 2020 saw visits from Canada fall by 43.8%, while visits from the U.S. dropped by 60.1%.<\/p>\n

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One CTO official said some hotels fell to less than three per cent occupancy at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. But Frank Comito, CEO and Director General of the Caribbean Hotels and Tourism Association, said there are numerous positive signs on the horizon.<\/p>

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Occupancy in the region is hovering around 20% now, he said, which is in the range of what officials expected for the summer. Some hotels are reporting 70% of rooms sold for later this year, but Comito said he expects most hotels will have 30-40% occupancy for the fall, and that they could be at 40-70% for the first part of 2021.<\/p>

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\u201cWe\u2019re seeing a lot of advance bookings,\u201d Comito said. \u201cThe real good news is after Christmas. People are shopping, and they are searching.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CHTA and Caribbean hotels are offering health insurance, which probably helps, he said.<\/p>

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Dr. Lisa Indar, head of the Regional Tourism and Health Program and Foodborne Diseases at the Caribbean Public Healthy Agency, said the region has done well during the pandemic, with a rate of infection that\u2019s far below the U.S. and below the UK, and just a little higher than Canada.<\/p>\n

Indar said the evidence suggests that almost all new infections are coming from Caribbean residents, and not visitors to the various destinations<\/p>

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Caribbean residents have been exploring their own countries this summer and visiting neighbouring ones as well, which has helped. The next step is to get more short-haul international visitors.<\/p>

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\u201cThe Caribbean, I believe, will come back,\u201d Comito said.<\/p>\n

There are still obstacles ahead, of course. The cruise industry has yet to return to the Caribbean in any significant way, and one official said he recently saw a survey of U.S. travellers that said 60% of Americans won\u2019t travel until there\u2019s a vaccine.<\/p>\n

Walters said at least 20 Caribbean destinations are open in some way, but not all for commercial travel just yet.<\/p>\n

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Visitation to the Caribbean was down nearly 50% for the first six months of this year, but better times are ahead, Caribbean tourism officials say. Speaking to the media on a Zoom call on Wednesday, Caribbean Tourism Organization Secretary General (acting) Neil Walters said the first half of 2020 saw visits from Canada fall by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-tourism"],"yoast_head":"\nBetter Times Not Far Away For Caribbean Tourism - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/better-times-not-far-away-for-caribbean-tourism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Better Times Not Far Away For Caribbean Tourism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Visitation to the Caribbean was down nearly 50% for the first six months of this year, but better times are ahead, Caribbean tourism officials say. 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