Connect with us

Caribbean News

CHTA Shares Optimistic 2019 Tourism Forecast

Published

on

#MontegoBay, February 5, 2019 – Jamaica – Caribbean tourism officials are upbeat about 2019 and confidently expect another year of positive growth bolstered by increased airlift, improved sales, ongoing investments in hotel upgrades and refurbishments, and new properties coming on stream.

Speaking with reporters at the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association’s (CHTA) 37th annual Caribbean Travel Marketplace, which ended Thursday evening in Montego Bay, Frank Comito, CHTA’s Director General and CEO, shared the optimistic tourism forecast, including a second consecutive year of significant increases in new hires and capital improvements resulting from the stronger performance trend.

Announcing the results of the fourth annual CHTA Industry Performance and Outlook Study, Comito was bullish about the immediate future, indicating that 85 percent of the hotels surveyed expressed optimism about the year, citing a continuation of the positive performance many experienced in 2018.

Increased capital investments are paying dividends for 61 percent of hotels, while strong revenues are generating new hires by 47 percent of respondents.  Another 44 percent are maintaining existing employment levels.  Seventy-six percent of hoteliers have reported increased revenue with 29 percent registering significant growth.

“We are seeing high levels of investments in upgrades of existing hotels over the past three years, and the growth in new room inventory contributes to modest increases in room rates as the region’s product continues to expand and improve,” said Comito.  “This is a considerable shift from what we were seeing four years ago and is expected to continue this year.”

Comito added that a healthier hotel sector is contributing to growth in employment, higher tax revenues for governments, and helping more hotels to realize a net profit.  Eighty percent of responding hotels anticipate net profits as they finalize their 2018 books.

“A healthy hotel sector is paramount to economic growth. While every sector of our tourism economy is important, specifically cruise, marinas, and vacation home rentals, it is the hotel sector which has the greatest multiplier effect on economies.  They continue to have the greatest impact on employment generation, spin-off businesses, new airlift, and tax revenue.  We are pleased to see performance moving in this positive direction,” added Comito.

The tourism veteran said the CHTA survey will help the organization gain a better understanding of the state of the tourism economy, its outlook, and factors which could influence the sustained expansion of the region’s visitor industry.

The survey polled a representative sampling of hotels throughout the Caribbean looking at their 2018 performance and 2019 expectations.  It examined areas such as employment levels, revenue, profits, capital spending, room occupancy, and rates as a basis for assessing the state of the tourism economy.

The residual impacts of the 2017 hurricanes were still affecting several destinations, and Comito urged tourism officials to address any lingering unfavorable marketplace perceptions by making greater marketing investments.

“While we are definitely upbeat about the performance of tourism in the region, we cannot rest on our laurels this year,” said Comito, who cautioned that changes in the global economy could adversely impact performance.  “As we enjoy a very strong winter season, the industry should anticipate and plan for external factors which could curb growth in 2019.”

Caribbean Travel Marketplace 2019 was produced by CHTA in collaboration with co-hosts the Jamaica Hotel & Tourist Association, the Jamaica Tourist Board and the Jamaica Ministry of Tourism.  It is the leading event in the Caribbean tourism industry where delegates from Caribbean countries meet with buyers from more than 20 markets.

This year’s host sponsors were Appleton Estate Rum Experience, Interval International, Jamaica Hotel & Tourist Association, Jamaica Tourist Board, Jamaica Ministry of Tourism, JetBlue Vacations, MasterCard, Sandals and Scotiabank, while Platinum sponsors included 7 Pillars: Marketing on Demand, Adara, AMResorts, Figment Design, Marketplace Excellence, OBMI, Sojern, STR, TravelClick, Travelzoo, and the United States Virgin Islands.

Gold sponsors were AeroMD, American Airlines, ARDA, Arrivalist, Best Western International, BlackDoctor.Org, Bonnier Corporation, Caribbean Airlines, Caribbean Journal, Condé Nast Traveler, Delta Air Lines, The Discoverer, EPICA, Expedia Group, FirstCaribbean International Bank, Flip.to, Golf Channel, HCP Media, HEBS Digital, Matador Network, Meredith, NextPax, The New York Times, Northstar Travel Group, Prevue magazine, Questex, Rainmaker, Recommend magazine, Robb Report, Simpleview, SiteMinder, St. Maarten, St. Martin, TL Cooper Media, travAlliancemedia, Travel + Leisure, Travel Relations, TravPRO Mobile, TripAdvisor, Trip Mate, and The Wall Street Journal.

 

Release: CHTA

Photo Caption: CHTA’s CEO Frank Comito (right) and Chief Marketing Officer Matt Cooper (left) talk tourism with David Noel, President & CEO, Scotiabank Group Jamaica during Caribbean Travel Marketplace.

 

About the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA)

The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) is the Caribbean’s leading association representing the interests of national hotel and tourism associations. For more than 50 years, CHTA has been the backbone of the Caribbean hospitality industry. Working with some 1,000 hotel and allied members, and 33 National Hotel Associations, CHTA is shaping the Caribbean’s future and helping members to grow their businesses. Whether navigating new worlds like social media, sustainability, legislative issues, emerging technologies, climate change, data and intelligence or, looking for avenues and ideas to better market and manage businesses, CHTA is helping members on issues which matter most.

For further information, visit www.caribbeanhotelandtourism.com.

Continue Reading

Caribbean News

CARPHA Progresses to Eligibility for the First Disbursement of Pandemic Funding

Published

on

Following a landmark Public Signing Ceremony for the Pandemic Fund (PF) Technical Cooperation Agreement (“Reducing the Public Health Impact of Pandemics in the Caribbean through Prevention, Preparedness, and Response” [RG-T4387] Project) on December 14, 2023, in Trinidad, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) continues to progress towards the start of implementation.

 CARPHA fulfilled the IDB’s nine conditions prior to first disbursement, achieving full eligibility on March 15, 2024, and is now eligible for the first disbursement. This milestone achievement in just 3 months after the signing speaks to the commitment of both CARPHA, the Executing Agency, and IDB, the Implementing Entity, toward the regional PF project with the objective of supporting the reduction of the public health impact of pandemics in the Caribbean by building pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPR) surveillance & early-warning systems (EWS), laboratory systems and workforce capacity, regionally at CARPHA and in countries.

Since the signing of the Technical Cooperation Agreement and as part of the conditions prior to first disbursement, CARPHA has achieved the following key outputs (i) the development of the PF Project Operations Manual, Multi-annual Execution Plan, Procurement Plan, Financial Plan, Procedure for CARPHA’s Financial Reporting System; (ii) vacancy announcements for two tranches of consultants with the subsequent hiring of five (Technical Coordinator, Financial Specialist, Procurement Specialist, Operations Officer and Project Operations Coordinator) and (iii) the establishment of the Project Execution Unit (PEU) and Project Execution Steering Committee (PESC). The dedicated PEU will be responsible for execution according to its planned timelines, which will be led by the Dr. Lisa Indar, the Project Director (CARPHA’s Director of Surveillance, Disease Prevention and Control Division).

 CARPHA, as the lead regional public health agency and an expression of Caribbean Cooperation in Health is mandated by its Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) to support its 26 CARPHA Member States (CMS) in bolstering national systems and coordinating regional response to public health threats. The Agency works closely with regional and international agencies and uses regional mechanisms, surveillance systems, and networks for coordinating its public health response work.

In July 2023, the PF Governing Board announced that CARPHA’s regional entity proposal, entitled ‘Reducing the Public Health Impact of Pandemics in the Caribbean through Strengthened Integrated Early Warning Surveillance, Laboratory Systems and Workforce Development’ was successfully selected for the first round of financing. It was one of only 19 proposals selected from over 300 submissions and the only regional project. The three priority areas in the proposal are: (i) Comprehensive disease surveillance and EWS, (ii) Laboratory systems and (iii) Human resources and public health and community workforce capacity.

This project is expected to begin implementation in March 2024, starting off with a blended onboarding session. A Stakeholder Meeting with countries is tentatively planned for July 2024.

CARPHA remains dedicated to working together with the IDB, CARPHA Member States and the Pandemic Fund to successfully implement the regional proposal geared toward reducing the public health impact of pandemics in the Caribbean.

Continue Reading

Caribbean News

Men who had Murdered Man, Marley Higgs’ cell phone face Court

Published

on

Wilkie Arthur

Freelance Court Correspondent

The prosecution intends to try two young North Caicos men, both age 21 for the offense of possession of property of a murdered man, property that was stolen and landed in their possession.

The phone belonged to Peureton ‘Marley’ Higgs, who is believed to have been an innocent gunned down at his apartment complex in the Glass Shack area in a spray of bullets on February 2 that killed another man and wounded two others, including a ten-year-old little girl.

The cell phone was described as white in colour, an iPhone, in a hard black case. 

On Monday, March 18th, JEFFVANO HANDFIELD of North Caicos pleaded not guilty to the offense, and the matter was adjourned to April 2024. He was granted bail in the matter.

A second North Caicos man was charged similarly.  

SARENO CAPELLAN aka, Kino Williams is the second individual brought before the court pertaining to the said cellphone. He appeared in court a week after JEFFVANO HANDFIELD, the date being Monday March 25th 2024.

The case for the Crown is that both men sometime in February of this year possessed the cellphone knowing or suspecting it to be stolen property.

Continue Reading

Caribbean News

Supreme Court Closed for Easter

Published

on

NOTICE is hereby given that the Easter Recess shall commence on Friday 29th April, 2024 and end on Friday 5th April, 2024. During the Easter Recess Judge Selochan will be available to deal only with matters that are urgent or require prompt attention.

Court Business During the Easter Recess

A person who wishes to have a matter heard during the recess must file a certificate of urgency along with an affidavit, which must set out the reasons why the matter is urgent or requires prompt attention. The matter will not be listed during the recess unless the Judge deems it fit for urgent hearing.

Opening Hours During the Easter Holiday

The Supreme Court’s last sitting day for the first term is Thursday 28th March, 2024. The Court will officially resume sittings on Monday 8th April, 2024. The Supreme Court Offices in both Grand Turk and Providenciales will continue to operate while the Court is not sitting during the recess.

The Court Office will be closed on the following public holidays:

  • Friday 29th March, 2024 (Good Friday) CLOSED
  • Monday 1st April, 2024 (Easter Monday) CLOSED

Continue Reading

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

TRENDING