Cuba: Tourism To Grow

In recent years, Cuba and most of the other tourist destinations in the Caribbean have managed to increase both visitor arrivals and earnings, demonstrating that there is room for all in a growing world tourism industry.

With the economic and political changes taking place in Cuba and the island's desperate need for more foreign exchange, especially if PetroCaribe collapses or its generous benefits are scaled down, there will be an even greater push to expand tourism.

If normalisation with the United States continues, the number of American tourists willing to travel to Cuba will increase. If the Helms-Burton restrictions and the last vestiges of the embargo are rescinded, then there is likely to be a rush of American tourists. Initially this increase will be seen in the cruise arrivals, but as more people get into the bed and breakfast home-style accommodation and as more hotels and tourist infrastructure are built, the capacity to meet the surge in demand will expand.

All of this will have an impact on the Caribbean. What the impact will be depends on how Caribbean governments and the tourism industry respond. Happily, the Caribbean Hotel and Tourist Association (CHTA) has taken up the challenge in a constructive way. The CHTA has recognised that there is room for all to grow and Cuba should be seen as an opportunity for synergies.

On June 18, 2015 the CHTA stated that the approach should be one of engagement and improvement. It recognised that "the Caribbean, the most tourism-dependent region in the world, could use a good shaking up" and that "the biggest and most disruptive pebble to be dropped into the Caribbean pool in 50 years will arrive with the opening of travel to Cuba for United States citizens".

The CHTA warned that time was of the essence. "Clearly, there are a number of short-term impacts being felt already. Cuba has already experienced an immediate increase in visitors from all around the world."

The CHTA starts from the sensible premise that "there is ample opportunity for the net effects to be positive for the Caribbean as a whole". "...The coming Cuban disruption just might be the tonic that the countries need individually and collectively to build the kind of strategic approaches to tourism development that will yield sustainable results for its citizens," it says.

We suggest that the CHTA is correct. The way to go is co-operation. There is, as the body says, an unprecedented opportunity for collaboration and a new era of co-operation that stands to strengthen the entire Caribbean, helping it to realise its full potential as one of the world's most enviable regions.

The CHTA has called for a new US-Caribbean relationship, and the "urgent creation" of a Caribbean Basin Tourism Initiative that recognises tourism services as a way in which to assist regional development.

That initiative, it said, would be similar to the original Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) of the 1980s, one that contemplates policy and technical support to the region with private sector entities like the CHTA and the Caribbean Tourism Organisation as partners.

We hope that the vision is widely shared in the region.