TOURISM growth REVERSED for TCI; CRIME and COVID VACCINE may be to blame

Deandrea Hamilton & Dana Malcolm

Editorial Staff

It was not a chart-topping Thanksgiving for the Turks and Caicos Islands as long-stay visitor arrivals and commercial airlines were down during one of the busiest travel seasons of the year, and the protracted vaccine mandate carries some of the blame.

Air arrivals for American Thanksgiving weekend 2022 in the Turks and Caicos fell below 2019 and 2021 levels according to figures obtained by Magnetic Media from the Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA).

Though a slight dip, the lower passenger count broke the trend of increasingly better numbers in terms of long stay tourists vacationing in the islands.

Nikeva Ariza, Manager of Corporate Affairs, Communication and Community Engagement explained that between November 20-27 a total of 13,310 passengers came into the islands and there were 14,494 outbound passengers during the period which included American Thanksgiving on November 24th.  Back in 2021 there were 14,714 inbound and 14,037 outbound passengers for the same period in 2019 there were 13,804 inbound and 13,984 outbound.

The figure reflects a 9.5 per cent drop when all indicators and expectations had been pointing to outperformance of 2021.  The decrease also comes as the Turks and Caicos’ safety reputation was scorched by blazing international headlines about a gang-fuelled killing spree, which led to innocents, including a prominent Virginian realtor and NAACP leader, being shot in the crossfire.

Kent Carter, a tourist, was killed in a hail of bullets on October 2, following a jet ski excursion.

There was a 25 per cent decrease in airlines at the Providenciales International Airport, PLS November 20-27 (2022).  Some 140 aircraft landed during the holiday week but that was well below last year’s record setting number, which TCIAA data informed was 186.

As for what Christmas may bring Stacy Cox, CEO of The Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association (TCHTA) said the vaccine mandate has made projecting less predictable.

“Although the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday the numbers are strong, it’s hard to predict what the latter months will be due to us being one of the only islands in the Caribbean that still has a vaccinated guest only policy for entry while our competitors have dropped all requirements, advertising aggressively and are fully open for business.” she said

The September listing from the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association revealed the TCI was one of only two countries clinging to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.  The other in the September list of 31 Caribbean countries was Guyana, however, that changed on October 7th; Guyana dropped the travel entry requirement soon after the list was published.

More positively, Cox explained that Turks and Caicos resorts were also seeing many last minute bookings which made it even tougher to predict future occupancy.

Regardless, the outstanding performance in the first six months of 2022 have set the Turks and Caicos up for a record breaking year, when viewed overall.

In the first six months of 2022 alone there was a 183 per cent increase in arrivals.  There were 180,597 air passenger arrivals in January to June 2021 versus a massive 331,824 in the same period in 2022, an increase of 151,227 arrivals.