CHTA in Virtual Discussion to Boost Intra-Regional Travel

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#TheCarribean, April 15, 2022 – Over a billion dollars of revenue has been lost to the Coronavirus Pandemic as intra-regional travel took a major hit. Now, the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) is holding talks to figure out how to revive travel between Caribbean Nationals.

A virtual discussion series between Caribbean leaders was held April 6-7, 2022.

Session one was aimed at “Presenting a profile of the intra-Caribbean traveler and looking at the obstacles and opportunities for stimulating the recovery of intra-regional travel.”

Session two handled providing “Destinations with insights and success stories on restoring and attracting the high potential intra-Caribbean travel market.”

While the Caribbean is experiencing an exceptional boom in international tourist arrivals, “Intra-regional travel has taken a massive hit during the pandemic, and it’s been slower to rebound than international travel,” said Nicola Madden Greig, President of the CHTA.

“We want to examine how the region can recoup over a billion US dollars of lost revenue in this area and recover better than ever.”

Travel within the region has only recovered to an estimated 30 per cent of 2019 arrivals.

Madden-Greig says this is seriously hurting some hoteliers.