US passport requirement to have “huge impact” on Caribbean tourism
By Hazel Heyer
NEW YORK (eTurboNews) -- Before the closing of the Caribbean Week in New York, held from May 31-June 4, the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) warned Caribbean Community (Caricom) nations to brace for a huge impact to tourism when Americans traveling to the Caribbean will be asked to produce their passports for re-entry come 2006.
According to a research by the WTTC, on behalf of the Caribbean Hotels Association (CHA), visitor market share from the United States to the Caribbean and the percentage of those visitors that do not use a valid US passport will decline dramatically. Currently, about 20 percent of the US population travel without passports.
Today, total visitor exports earnings in the Caribbean region amount to US$20.7 billion. However when the law applies January 1st, 2006, more than US$2.6 billion of visitor export earnings and more than 188,000 travel and tourism jobs could be at risk. USA traffic, as a result, will be diverted to Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and Florida. Cruise ship traffic will have to comply or receive special treatment at the entry ports. Spontaneous or last minute trips will be significantly reduced.
Further to the WTTC, the issue is not temporary or short-term. It will be a permanent realignment of traffic to impact heavily on the Caribbean countries' hard-currency earner. This 2005, WTTC Caribbean T&T research aims to guide national hotel associations in the Caribbean and their local governments, securing reliable data to support their lobbying efforts.
"CHA can appreciate US concern for its security, but cannot lose sight of the impact of the new regulations on Caribbean travel and tourism, which will be a permanent realignment of traffic, with spontaneous, last minute travel significantly reduced," said CHA president Berthia Parle, MBE. "Our position advocates an extension of time for the Caribbean to the same introductory date as Mexico and Canada, January 1, 2008, to allow the region's tourism to prepare better."
"The United States' new passport requirement for the Caribbean, Mexico and Canada is likely to change the nature of regional travel and tourism and cause significant hardship for several destinations that have grown to rely on a more open movement of visitors,” Jean-Claude Baumgarten, president of the WTTC said. “Of course, security is a major issue for nations around the world - and Travel & Tourism must contribute - but government officials must also recognize the economic impact their decisions are likely to make on economies far and wide.
“The US passport issue is one of those issues that must be clearly reviewed and discussed with travel and tourism leaders to mitigate the impact. We deserve no less."
Indeed, several Caribbean states have expressed fears that the requirement could seriously affect their tourism industry.
Representing more than 30 governments of the Caribbean, the Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) said, however, it was urging United States-based visitors hoping to travel to the Caribbean to ensure that they were in possession of a valid passport as of December 31, 2005. Such a move is in keeping with the decision of the US State Department and the Department of Homeland Security that all travelers entering or re-entering the US from the Caribbean must be comply with entry policies.
For its part, the CTO said it would aggressively disseminate all pertinent information to both the region's travel partners including travel agents, airlines and tour operators, and the traveling public in order to prevent a disruption of travel plans for 2006 and beyond.
"Due to an overwhelming expected rush of passport applications, the CTO is advising all travelers without passports to allow a minimum of eight weeks to process a new US passport application. Foreign nationals should contact their own respective governments to obtain passports," a spokesman said.
Meanwhile, Jamaica says the passage of the recent Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill in the United States will enable Jamaican H-2B workers who have participated in the US Hotel program over the last three years, to obtain employment for the 2005 season. It said that these workers would be exempted from the allotted H-2B visa quota. Under the United States Department of Homeland Security, the Labor and Social Security minister, Horace Dalley said that a total of 66,000 H-2B visas were issued each fiscal year, and that traditionally, Mexico and the Caribbean have been the major recipients of these visas.
Dalley told legislators that since the beginning of fiscal year 2003, there has been strict enforcement of the cap, which for this fiscal year was attained as early as January 2005.
"Most of the hotel workers recruited from Jamaica are normally employed for the spring and summer seasons; therefore, the employers would not have been able to file their petitions before the cap was reached, as applications cannot be submitted earlier than 120 days before their date of need," the minister said. Although there is little possibility for increasing the number of workers this year over 2004, Dalley said the ministry welcomed the new regulations, as employment would now be found for a number of those H-2B workers who have travelled on the programme in the last three years.
Another issue for the CARICOM nations is air transfer from the US and Canada. Already increased to 30 percent last year, US tourist arrivals have only grown by 1.4 percent . Even with a $300 discount on airfare given by the Best of Barbados taxpayer subsidies, dramatically reducing air deals, and hotel offering free nights and breakfast, the airline situation hardly improved despite rise of frequent flyer programs and supplier partnerships. Air Canada doubled capacity without a working marketing strategy did not create much of an impact either. "Without reliable, efficient and adequate air transportation at affordable prices the Caribbean cannot be assured of a sustainable tourism industry," said Arley Sobers, CTO's acting secretary general. "Because of the Caribbean tourism industry's overwhelming dependence on air transportation our countries' economic interests are at risk if airlift to the region is inadequate," he added.
About 85 percent of airlines operating in Latin America and the Caribbean have had losses - an estimated US$8 billion between 2001 and 2004, with US$5 billion in 2004 alone despite a more than 18 percent increase in passengers.
Also, the regional carriers have lost hundreds of millions of dollars among them. While the major carriers are reporting losses, with some going into bankruptcy, low cost carriers have revolutionized the way the airline industry does business and have been doing well.
On the horizon are other positively-directed issues that may be do good for the Caribbean region as a whole. Such are the tourism investment fund project which would allow small businesses to gain access to investments, through the government developed consortiums of banks and financial institutions, contributing to a fund solely dedicated to Caricom tourism; the approval of the Caricom single market and economy, vital to a regional approach to tourism investment through agreement on removal of restrictions to the free trade in hotel and accommodation; and the World Cup Cricket 2007, which will grow the tourist numbers provided the destinations are fully prepared. Certain quarters question the addition of infrastructure and how they will be sustained after the Cup is over.
Worried about the Cup's preparation, Parle said: “We need to start now to build our resources and get substantial amount of marketing up front and well after the World Cup.We don't want to end up with white elephants on our hand. This marketing should be done jointly and we all should pull our resources to promote this world event."
Former captain Richie Richardson, now the chief executive officer of the Antigua and Barbuda Sports Tourism Alliance (ABSTA), wants the board to adopt a solid administrative structure and sophisticated approach to marketing, along the lines of American-administered sports, coupled with enfranchising the game's supporters. "When I was playing, we were retrogressing. Countries have moved on and we're going backwards," the Antiguan noted, as he called for greater emphasis on training and development of players, as well as promotion.
Source: Hazel Heyer (eTurboNews)
NEW YORK (eTurboNews) -- Before the closing of the Caribbean Week in New York, held from May 31-June 4, the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) warned Caribbean Community (Caricom) nations to brace for a huge impact to tourism when Americans traveling to the Caribbean will be asked to produce their passports for re-entry come 2006.
According to a research by the WTTC, on behalf of the Caribbean Hotels Association (CHA), visitor market share from the United States to the Caribbean and the percentage of those visitors that do not use a valid US passport will decline dramatically. Currently, about 20 percent of the US population travel without passports.
Today, total visitor exports earnings in the Caribbean region amount to US$20.7 billion. However when the law applies January 1st, 2006, more than US$2.6 billion of visitor export earnings and more than 188,000 travel and tourism jobs could be at risk. USA traffic, as a result, will be diverted to Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and Florida. Cruise ship traffic will have to comply or receive special treatment at the entry ports. Spontaneous or last minute trips will be significantly reduced.
Further to the WTTC, the issue is not temporary or short-term. It will be a permanent realignment of traffic to impact heavily on the Caribbean countries' hard-currency earner. This 2005, WTTC Caribbean T&T research aims to guide national hotel associations in the Caribbean and their local governments, securing reliable data to support their lobbying efforts.
"CHA can appreciate US concern for its security, but cannot lose sight of the impact of the new regulations on Caribbean travel and tourism, which will be a permanent realignment of traffic, with spontaneous, last minute travel significantly reduced," said CHA president Berthia Parle, MBE. "Our position advocates an extension of time for the Caribbean to the same introductory date as Mexico and Canada, January 1, 2008, to allow the region's tourism to prepare better."
"The United States' new passport requirement for the Caribbean, Mexico and Canada is likely to change the nature of regional travel and tourism and cause significant hardship for several destinations that have grown to rely on a more open movement of visitors,” Jean-Claude Baumgarten, president of the WTTC said. “Of course, security is a major issue for nations around the world - and Travel & Tourism must contribute - but government officials must also recognize the economic impact their decisions are likely to make on economies far and wide.
“The US passport issue is one of those issues that must be clearly reviewed and discussed with travel and tourism leaders to mitigate the impact. We deserve no less."
Indeed, several Caribbean states have expressed fears that the requirement could seriously affect their tourism industry.
Representing more than 30 governments of the Caribbean, the Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) said, however, it was urging United States-based visitors hoping to travel to the Caribbean to ensure that they were in possession of a valid passport as of December 31, 2005. Such a move is in keeping with the decision of the US State Department and the Department of Homeland Security that all travelers entering or re-entering the US from the Caribbean must be comply with entry policies.
For its part, the CTO said it would aggressively disseminate all pertinent information to both the region's travel partners including travel agents, airlines and tour operators, and the traveling public in order to prevent a disruption of travel plans for 2006 and beyond.
"Due to an overwhelming expected rush of passport applications, the CTO is advising all travelers without passports to allow a minimum of eight weeks to process a new US passport application. Foreign nationals should contact their own respective governments to obtain passports," a spokesman said.
Meanwhile, Jamaica says the passage of the recent Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill in the United States will enable Jamaican H-2B workers who have participated in the US Hotel program over the last three years, to obtain employment for the 2005 season. It said that these workers would be exempted from the allotted H-2B visa quota. Under the United States Department of Homeland Security, the Labor and Social Security minister, Horace Dalley said that a total of 66,000 H-2B visas were issued each fiscal year, and that traditionally, Mexico and the Caribbean have been the major recipients of these visas.
Dalley told legislators that since the beginning of fiscal year 2003, there has been strict enforcement of the cap, which for this fiscal year was attained as early as January 2005.
"Most of the hotel workers recruited from Jamaica are normally employed for the spring and summer seasons; therefore, the employers would not have been able to file their petitions before the cap was reached, as applications cannot be submitted earlier than 120 days before their date of need," the minister said. Although there is little possibility for increasing the number of workers this year over 2004, Dalley said the ministry welcomed the new regulations, as employment would now be found for a number of those H-2B workers who have travelled on the programme in the last three years.
Another issue for the CARICOM nations is air transfer from the US and Canada. Already increased to 30 percent last year, US tourist arrivals have only grown by 1.4 percent . Even with a $300 discount on airfare given by the Best of Barbados taxpayer subsidies, dramatically reducing air deals, and hotel offering free nights and breakfast, the airline situation hardly improved despite rise of frequent flyer programs and supplier partnerships. Air Canada doubled capacity without a working marketing strategy did not create much of an impact either. "Without reliable, efficient and adequate air transportation at affordable prices the Caribbean cannot be assured of a sustainable tourism industry," said Arley Sobers, CTO's acting secretary general. "Because of the Caribbean tourism industry's overwhelming dependence on air transportation our countries' economic interests are at risk if airlift to the region is inadequate," he added.
About 85 percent of airlines operating in Latin America and the Caribbean have had losses - an estimated US$8 billion between 2001 and 2004, with US$5 billion in 2004 alone despite a more than 18 percent increase in passengers.
Also, the regional carriers have lost hundreds of millions of dollars among them. While the major carriers are reporting losses, with some going into bankruptcy, low cost carriers have revolutionized the way the airline industry does business and have been doing well.
On the horizon are other positively-directed issues that may be do good for the Caribbean region as a whole. Such are the tourism investment fund project which would allow small businesses to gain access to investments, through the government developed consortiums of banks and financial institutions, contributing to a fund solely dedicated to Caricom tourism; the approval of the Caricom single market and economy, vital to a regional approach to tourism investment through agreement on removal of restrictions to the free trade in hotel and accommodation; and the World Cup Cricket 2007, which will grow the tourist numbers provided the destinations are fully prepared. Certain quarters question the addition of infrastructure and how they will be sustained after the Cup is over.
Worried about the Cup's preparation, Parle said: “We need to start now to build our resources and get substantial amount of marketing up front and well after the World Cup.We don't want to end up with white elephants on our hand. This marketing should be done jointly and we all should pull our resources to promote this world event."
Former captain Richie Richardson, now the chief executive officer of the Antigua and Barbuda Sports Tourism Alliance (ABSTA), wants the board to adopt a solid administrative structure and sophisticated approach to marketing, along the lines of American-administered sports, coupled with enfranchising the game's supporters. "When I was playing, we were retrogressing. Countries have moved on and we're going backwards," the Antiguan noted, as he called for greater emphasis on training and development of players, as well as promotion.
Source: Hazel Heyer (eTurboNews)
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