travel trade caribbean - world travel market 2013. news
TRANSCRIPT
22Growth Predicted
for British Market in Mexican Caribbean
18Cuba and the
Caribbean: Emerging Destinations for Luxury Tourism
14Varadero Consolidates as Cuba’s Principal Holiday
Destination
10British Travel Less to the Caribbean
The Dominican Republic Has It AllLuis EMiLio Rodríguez, president of the Hotel and Tourism Association of the Dominican Republic (AsoNAHoREs), heads the most powerful organization of the country’s private tourist sector –a federa-tion that gathers all the regional hotel associations as well as the organizations representing airports, ports, sports marinas, tourist real estate companies, restaurants, etc. For more than 50 years (since 1962), AsoNAHoREs has been collaborating very actively with the Ministry of Tourism in the successful poli-cies that makes the Dominican Republic (DR) the principal Caribbean destination. 4
Cuba at WTM 2013STAND CA 140A LARGE representation of Cuban entities and their commercial partners will be pres-ent, as usual, at WTM 2013 at stand CA140. Their main prospects are presenting the new products of the Cuba Destination as well as promoting the cultural, incentive and quality of life programs; events, golf tourna-ments and scuba diving. 19
Tourism in the Caribbean and the United KingdomTHE CARiBBEAN is the region that most depends on the international travel and tourism industry. on the islands, those activities contribute 14% of the Gross Domestic Product, one out of every eight jobs and a sixth of the income for the export of goods and services. on a world level, six Carib-bean countries classify among the 10 most depen-dent on this sector. 8
“TouRisM represents 9% of the world’s Gross Do-mestic Product, one out of every 12 jobs, 1.2 billion dollars’ worth of exports that mean 6% of inter-
national trade and, what’s most important, 8% of the exports of the countries with emerging economies,” Carlos Vogeler, regional director for
the Americas of the World Tourism organization (uNWTo), affirmed in his lecture Actualidad turísti-ca internacional (Current international Tourism). 2
Current International Tourisminternational Tourism Publication founded in 1996
Year Xiii • No. 224 • November 2013Europe Edition • isNN 1724-5370
www.traveltradecaribbean.com
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TTC Travel Trade Caribbean srl Via Balbo, 1 Chieri. Torino, italia
Tel. +39 3938196638
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Web www.traveltradecaribbean.com
Honorary President Renzo Druetto
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Marketing Dominican Republic Flavia Anelli [email protected]
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TTC Travel Trade Caribbean srl Registered at the Milan Court, number 166, 13/03/2002. Registered at the Chamber of Commerce: 08/01/2001. Registered in RoC italia.
Tourism has stopped being
the privilege of a few to become the
right of all.”
passing Germany and the united states –followed by the united Kingdom, Russia (which is growing enormously), France, Canada, Japan and Austra-lia. Three countries in the region of the Americas are among other important issuing markets: Brazil, Mexico and Argentina.
uNWTo studies about tourism in 2030 indi-cate a notable potential for development. The mature destinations as well as the emerging ones will need to adapt their conditions in relation to: New business environment, infrastructures, Travel facilitation, Marketing strategies and Human re-sources.
The increase continues, though at a lower per-centage. The average increase for 2010-2030 will be from 43 million international arrivals a year to have
1.8 billion in 2030, “which we would have to multiply by five to add do-mestic tourists.” As part of that pro-jection, the Caribbean, which will reach 30 million international visitors in 2030, will grow by 2%, below the world average.
Air transportation will continue extending its market quota but at a slower pace. According to the international Civil Aviation organization, annu-al aircraft operations will increase from 30 million to 60 million in 2030.
The key factors that determine the evolution of the tourist industry are the world economy, tech-nology, demographic changes and consumption patterns, and sustainable development; and the three great challenges: air interconnection, the pressure of taxes on travel and travel facilitation.
Vogeler concluded his master lecture with the phrase “Tourism has stopped being the privilege of a few to become the right of all.” •
AN ANALYsis of how the world tourist activity is developing marked the central idea of the lecture by Carlos Vogeler, given in Varadero during FitCuba 2013. When referring to 2012 he said: “it closed with a 4% increase in arrivals –1.037 billion– as well as in income –1.075 trillion dollars–, data that do not in-clude domestic tourists or visitors who do not stay the night in the destination.”
The advanced economies attracted around 64% and the emerging one close to 36%, a rela-tion tending to reverse by 2015, and the emerging ones surpass the advanced in terms of the world quota of the market.
The sector’s recovery in the last three years, in the midst of the economic crisis, “confirms that tourism has an enormous capacity to withstand adverse situations,” he said.
The Americas attracted 163 mil-lion arrivals and us$ 213 billion in in-come, 15.7% and 20% of the world total, respectively, which is why “the equation is favorable.” Arrivals in-creased by 4% in line with the world mean, and incomes 6.9%, three points higher than the global average.
in the region, the Caribbean has grown only 4.4% in terms of arrivals (21 million) and 2.5% in in-come ($24.6 billion), an especially worrying situa-tion, the regional director for the Americas of the uNWTo noted. in contrast, the indicators for 2012 show that the Caribbean is well positioned in the hotel sector, above the mean for the Americas: a 66.5% occupancy rate, an average daily rate (ADR) of 176 us$ and a RevPar (income per available room) of 117 us$.
Among the principal world issuing markets Vo-geler highlighted China’s climb to first place, sur-
Current International Tourism
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interview
RoDRíGuEz is also the most distinguished man-ager of La Romana-Bayahibe tourist destination, where, among others, he heads the international airport and cruise port –owned by the Central Ro-mana Corporation group, the largest Dominican sugar producer. He has presided over the Associa-tion of La Romana-Bayahibe Hotels for four years, until his appointment a year ago to the current po-sition of national president.
He is answering the questions put to him by TTC in this edition dedicated to London’s WTM.
DR the first tourist destination in the Caribbean. Which are the three pillars of its market leadership?
“The Dominican Republic Has it All.” This is not just the slogan that the Ministry of Tourism uses in its promotion campaigns but also a reality of our country: from that history santo Domingo has in its Colonial zone to the beaches of Punta Cana; from the amazing show of the humpback whales in sa-maná to the majesty of Puerto Plata seen from the cable railway; from the adrenaline set free when rafting in Jarabacoa to the interior peace given by a beautiful sunset by the sea in Bayahibe. What other destination in the Caribbean has such diversity?
The second pillar of our market leadership can be individualized in the climate of safety and trust that has always favored foreign investment in the country. For more than 30 years the Dominican gov-ernment has supported numerous foreign compa-ny expansion programs. Hotel chains, airlines, tour operators, among others, have been attracted by its climate of political and socioeconomic stability, as well as by the high profitability of investments in tourism. These capital flows have greatly benefit-ed our nation, generating jobs, encouraging other productive sectors and contributing for a general dynamism that has turned tourism into the coun-try’s principal economic driving force.
The third pillar – not less important – is the ef-ficient work of promotion headed by our Ministry of Tourism in the international markets. Domini-can tourism’s marketing and promotion objec-tives were focused on Western Europe, the unit-ed states and Canada while they maintained their economic hegemony. Today, the economic real-ity has been affected by the effects of the bank-ing and real estate crisis and, while promotion in those areas continues, it is also pointing to other emerging markets: Eastern Europe (Russia, Poland, etc.), Latin America (Brazil, Argentina, etc.); and the promotion has even started in Asian markets like China and Japan.
our incomparable natural conditions and our history, the trust the country has known how to generate to attract and maintain foreign invest-ment and promotion are the three fundamen-tal pillars on which the DR’s market leadership is based in the Caribbean.
Tourism’s role in the Dominican economy and principal development trends: public and private in-vestment, up to what point?
The periodic reports by the Dominican Central Bank are clear: tourism is the driving force of the country’s economy and the principal source for generating hard currency.
With four million foreign visitors each year, tourism has a major impact on the Dominican economy. it generates direct and indirect jobs; let’s just think of the large number of professionals and workers involved in the construction and opera-tion of a hotel. it is also an important source of di-rect and indirect taxes for the state.
Moreover, tourism creates a wide range of in-direct businesses that benefit other productive sectors, like hydrocarbons or agriculture (tourism’s consumption of agricultural products in the DR ex-ceeds the amount the country exports); as well as mining and energy, which have in tourism one of their most important sources of income.
if, lastly, we think of tourism encouraging a wide range of complementary services – like ports and airports, excursions, bars and restaurants, com-
mercial establishments and entertainment centers, among others – we will have a complete vision of the extraordinary contribution that industry repre-sents for the Dominican economy.
This is why governments have boosted public investment in tourism infrastructures. Today the finishing touches are being given to an efficient system of modern tourist highways that connect all our destinations. The completion in a few days of the Tourist Boulevard of the East, a series of thru-ways connecting santo Domingo to La Romana and Punta Cana, is of special importance. These three destinations concentrate 85% of our foreign tourists, who now have the possibility of going from Punta Cana (on the country’s eastern tip) to santo Domingo in less than two hours.
The public and private sectors in the DR are making an effort to work in a coordinated and complementary way. The public sector sees to the development of the connection and basic servic-es infrastructures of the different tourist areas, as well as maintaining a legislation that guarantees the protection of tourist investments; without for-getting the very important mission of the state in providing safety for all the tourists visiting us. The private sector generates the investments and, to-gether with the public sector, promotes the coun-try’s different tourist destinations in the interna-tional markets.
European and British investment in Dominican tourism.
According to studies by our Central Bank, Euro-pean investment represents a high percentage of the total foreign tourist investment in the country, which gives us an idea of the importance that Eu-rope has represented for the development of Do-minican tourism.
The major spanish hotel groups (occidental, Barceló, Riu, Meliá, iberostar, Catalonia, Bahía Prín-cipe, etc.) have been established in the country for more than 30 years and all of them maintain, in dif-ferent levels, their local operations. This is a clear symptom that their operations have been and will continue being profitable.
in the case of British investment in the coun-try, it is worth to mention that its largest tour op-erators (FirstChoice, Thomson, etc.) and airlines (British Airways, Thomson Airways, etc.) have been and are still present in the Dominican market.
The same goes for the cruise sector. Thomson Cruises has been operating in the DR for several years, having successfully used the terminal of La
Luis Emilio Rodríguez, President of the Dominican
Hoteliers.
Interview with Luis Emilio Rodríguez, President of the Dominican Hoteliers.
The Dominican Republic Has It All
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interview
Romana-Casa de Campo as a homeport for several years. The British P&o Cruises line has also been visiting isla Catalina for years with its winter cruises program in the Caribbean.
Lastly, it can be mentioned that, after the merg-ing of the FirstChoice group with Tui AG, the Tui GRouP was created, the largest tour operator in the world, which has in the DR the largest infra-structure of personnel and means in the entire Ca-ribbean.
Tourist arrivals from the United Kingdom and oth-er European nations have gone up in the DR in 2013. Which are the new offers for these markets?
British tourists have been registering a continu-ous and sustained growth for seven consecutive months (this september they registered a 13% in-crease). Together with Germany and Russia, the united Kingdom is currently the most dynamic market in Europe.
in the first half of the 1990's British tourists were concentrated on the northern coast, from Puerto Plata to Río san Juan. After Punta Cana’s expan-sion, a great deal of this market went to that new tourist zone because of the natural conditions of its environment and because of finding alternative destinations for the numerous repeater travelers.
With this reality, it would be very convenient to improve the alternative offer of services in those traditional destinations as well as seeking alterna-tive destinations that can satisfy the demand of the British tourists.
in that sense, La Romana-Bayahibe is a sure fu-ture bet. it has excellent connectivity due to its in-ternational airport, the cruise port, the Coral Thru-way – which today connects La Romana to Punta Cana in just 35 minutes – and the other line of thru-ways – which starting next November 20 will con-nect La Romana to Las Américas Airport in 45 min-utes and to santo Domingo in less than an hour.
its more than 4,000 hotel beds and its alterna-tive services infrastructure (Casa de Campo, with Altos de Chavón, La Marina and their activities, like horseback riding, kayaking, shooting, etc.; the Cueva de Las Maravillas, the saona and Catalina is-lands, among others) turns La Romana-Bayahibe destination into an excellent alternative for the fu-ture growth in British tourism. Not forgetting that La Romana has an offer of golf courses excellence that could meet the demanding expectations of British golfers.
UK, the homeland of golf. The DR, the golf mecca in the Caribbean. What are the relations and the per-spectives?
The DR has some 26 international level golf courses that are concentrated in different tourist zones (La Romana, Punta Cana, Juan Dollo, Puer-to Plata, Río san Juan and santo Domingo). Many of them are located by the seaside and almost all of them have been designed by internationally fa-mous architects.
The promotion of our golf in the British market is undoubtedly one of the “pending tasks” of the Dominican tourist sector, which until now has fo-cused mainly on different promotion campaigns –like “sun and Beach,” cultural tourism in the Co-lonial City, the first in the Americas, and lastly eco-tourism and adventure tourism.
Golf tourism represents an extraordinary op-portunity for Dominican tourism in all the markets, especially in the u.s. and British ones. The united Kingdom is the homeland of golf and in our coun-try we have all the elements to be able to create perfect products for the British market.
The Dominican Republic undoubtedly has the best golf courses of the Caribbean area. The instal-lations of Playa Dorada and Río san Juan, in the north, the excellent golf courses of the zone of Juan Dollo and the extraordinary installations of the
Bávaro-Punta Cana area, in the south, are an offer they won’t find in any other Caribbean destination.
The extraordinary offer for golfers in the area of La Romana and concretely in the Casa de Campo complex, with four golf courses designed by fa-mous architect Pete Dye, among which the Teeth of the Dog is ranked among the world’ best, de-serves special mention.
A major challenge for our country could be the creation of a golf multi-destination, since (in addi-tion to the possible air connectivity) the new net-work of thruways that link santo Domingo, Juan Dollo, La Romana and Punta Cana today opens the possibility of creating joint programs for golf-ers, offering the experience of getting to know different tourist areas in the south of the country through a tour of their excellent golf courses.
We are already the golf mecca of the Caribbean. We have all the elements to continue growing and attracting the attention of the British golf tourism.
Which tourist attraction in the DR can’t be missed?We said that “the Dominican Republic has it all.”
That is why choosing a specific attraction is a dif-ficult task. But there is a unique beauty that distin-guishes us from all the other destinations. A rare wealth of the entire nation that definitively makes tourists fall in love with it: the people – their warm and friendly personality, cordiality and joyfulness.
Moreover, more and more Dominicans are re-ceiving professional training according to interna-tional standards and oriented at competitiveness in all the tourist segments. Today the DR has excel-lent tourism professionals, who also stand out for their open and affable character.
undoubtedly, the friendly treatment each Do-minican naturally gives to all foreigners and their increasing professionalism make up the fourth pil-lar of our tourism. it is the trait that every tourist always keeps in memory. •
Rafting at Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic.
La Laguna Dominicus beach, Ba-
yahibe, Dominican Republic.
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it received 30 million visitors from other countries and these tourists spent 31 billion dollars. For each dollar the uK received for tourist activities, British tourists spent two abroad.
The world economic crisis has led to a decrease in the united King-dom’s GDP. in 2012 its GDP was 2% less than 2007, at current prices. At constant prices, the decrease has been even greater. industrial pro-duction stands at 90% of the level achieved five years ago; the unem-ployment rate is 8%, almost double what it was in 2006. The deficit in its Current Account Balance has re-mained at -50 billion dollars each year of the last triennium and the Fiscal Deficit/GDP ratio is -7%, but it reached -14% in 2009. The pound sterling was devalued 20% as com-
Kingdom issuing market. At the start of the 21st century it contributed 5-6% of the tourist arrivals to the Ca-ribbean; currently it only contributes 3%. More than half of those islands were British colonies; some are still colonies or have a similar status, but the majority has gained indepen-dence.
The united Kingdom has the greatest number of low-budget air-lines in Europe; it classifies as the third European country prone to va-cationing outside its borders. inter-nationally, in 2012 it ranked fourth in terms of tourist spending abroad among the 50 major issuing mar-kets.
Mid last decade, 60 million tour-ists from this European country traveled abroad and spent 60 bil-lion dollars during their holidays.
beaches (Turkey, Tunisia, Moroc-co, Egypt), whose offers usually have lower prices than those of the Caribbean. spending by a united Kingdom tourist in 2007 in Barbados was 1,686 pounds sterling, in Jamaica, 647 and in the Mexican Caribbean 780; in Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco the average was 420 pounds.
▶ A rapid development of tourism from Western Europe to coun-tries of Eastern Europe and the new republics that previously formed part of the Yugoslav fed-eration.
▶ Doubling of the price of jet fuel in the last seven years.
Part of the economic effects on the tourist sector of some Caribbean destinations comes from the united
Dr. Miguel Alejandro Figueras 2007 National Economy Prize
TouRisT ARRiVALs in the Caribbean and the income coming from them maintained a high dynamics in past decades. in the last two years it has not been like this: in 1951 these island nations received 700,000 tourists, a figure that was doubled in 1969; in 1970, more than four million and, in 1990, it already amounted to almost 13 million.
During those 40 years, the aver-age growth rate of arrivals was 7.5%, higher than the mean world growth rate. The tourist flow to the Caribbe-an region grew 18 fold.
in recent years the speed of growth considerably dropped. A total of 17 million tourists were re-ceived in 2000 and in 2012 the figure only rose to 21 million, for a modest annual growth rate of 1.8% per year, with serious consequences for the 30 million Caribbean inhabitants.
The spanish-speaking islands (mainly Cuba and the Dominican Republic) have grown at a faster rate than the others. if we add the des-tinations of the Mexican Caribbean (Cancún and Riviera Maya), the so-called spanish Caribbean receives more than 50% of the tourists. Many of the English- and French-speaking islands and those linked to Holland and the united states are at a stand-still or falling back; cruise ships are adding a new competition for stay tourism.
Half of the visitors the Caribbe-an receives come from the united states; from Europe, a bit less than a fourth; and 13-14% from Canada. The Caribbean’s trips between the islands themselves to visit family members and friends and commer-cial activities make up the majority of the rest.
Lately the European presence has decreased in the Caribbean for diverse reasons, among them:
▶ The emergence of closer desti-nations with similar climate and
Tourism in the Caribbean and the United Kingdom
Travel Trade Caribbean • Year XIII • No. 224 • November 2013
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tourists to the Caribbean decreased by 200,000, that is, by 20%. While global numbers do not coincide in those different publications, the ten-dency observed is the same: a much lower contribution of the united Kingdom to tourist arrivals in the Ca-ribbean islands.
The 2012 London olympic Games were a temporary factor that re-duced the emission, since many de-cided to stay in their country to at-tend or see on TV that major sports event.
Together with the economic cri-sis came the consequences of the increases in the Air Passenger Duty (APD), which all passengers have to pay when leaving British airports. This tax was introduced in 1994, with a rate of five pounds for uK and Eu-ropean union destinations and 10 pounds for others, but since 1995 it has undergone successive modifi-cations and increases. A differenti-ating system of rates by bands was included that, in the case of the Ca-ribbean, has been denounced as un-fair and arbitrary, since it is alleged that it places the region in a disad-vantageous position as compared to other destinations.
According to a study by Price Waterhouse consultancy, the uK’s APD is the highest tax of this type in the world, by a considerable mar-gin. A family of four persons trav-eling from a British airport to the united states must pay 407 dollars; for the Caribbean the APD would be almost 600. The opinion of the Caribbean Tourism organization is that the APD takes away from the area some 90,000 British tourists per year. several governments in the region have requested the elim-ination of at least the discriminatory nature of the tax.
The APD has affected the com-munity of Caribbean immigrants living in the united Kingdom, who have played a useful role in the de-velopment of the British economy and today see how their expenses to travel to their countries of origin have increased. statistics specify that this community’s demands can-not be ignored, because while the united Kingdom is the largest issu-ing market for Barbados, it is also im-portant for the Barbadians and other people from the Caribbean who live in the European country to visit their relatives on the islands. •
pared to the dollar between 2007 and 2012.
Due to that crisis, British tour-ism to the region has been serious-ly affected. Between 2008 and 2012, tourists from the united Kingdom to Barbados, its third destination in the region, decreased from 184,000 to 96,000 visitors. The small islands lo-cated in the Eastern Caribbean have been greatly affected. in saint Lucia arrivals decreased 20% and its in-come for tourist services much more starting 2008.
in Cuba and the Dominican Re-public, the first and second destina-tion for British tourists and visitors, according to their own statistics, the reduction has represented a quarter of a million persons. According to statistics by the uK government, be-tween 2008 and 2012 the issuing of
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Frank Martin
For centuries the beautiful English-speaking is-lands of the Caribbean sea have been considered as “very British,” not just by their common histori-ans but also by the high affluence of tourists from the united Kingdom.
British films, ever since the James Bond agent 007 series to the Benny Hill comedies, have never left out images of the white sandy beaches, cus-toms, pleasant landscapes, some of them paradi-siacal, nor the boisterous music of the islanders.
However, something is happening. The bad news is that for that part of the Caribbean that re-solves a great many of its economic problems with international tourism, a significant low in leisure trips by citizens of the former British Empire has been occurring in recent years, especially those who were born on these Caribbean islands. Ac-cording to figures published in London by the Na-tional office of statistics, a government entity, the number of visits by those born in the Caribbean to meet with “friends and family”, called “VFR travel-ers,” registered a 26.7% drop from 165,000 in 2011 to only 121,000 in 2012.
As a consequence, the income these persons contribute to the Caribbean decreased during the same period by 28.8%, from 89 million pounds sterling to 66 million. Jamaica, the Caribbean mar-ket that perhaps is most favored by those tour-ists, saw its income in that sense descend from 31 pounds sterling to only 22 pounds per day, com-paring one year to the other.
Neither is there good news when the analysis brings together all the categories of British who usually spend their holidays in the Caribbean. The amount of subsidies by Her Majesty decreased 12% between 2011 and 2012, and in real figures, from 866,000 two years ago to 760,000 a year ago.
Thus the British went down on the list of good tourism issuers to the Caribbean, below not just u.s. travelers but also Canadians and Europeans in general, according to the reports by the Caribbe-an Tourism organization (CTo), the East Caribbean Central Bank and other sources.
According to an article on the internet by British specialist David Jessop, executive director of the London-based Caribbean Council, the number of uK citizens’ night stays in Caribbean countries reg-istered a 4.7% drop and their spending went down even more, by 8.3%, always in the same period of time analyzed.
in concrete figures, the profits fell from 699 mil-lion pounds sterling, because of these reasons, in 2011, to 641 million in 2012. The average spending witnessed a daily drop of 1.9%, from 57.70 pounds to 56.60 last year.
The general figures for tourism toward the Ca-ribbean from all destinations indicate that in 2012 the region received close to 25 million tourists that year, for a 5.4% increase as compared to 2011, ac-cording to a report by the Caribbean Tourism or-ganization.
When announcing the figures, Beverly Nichol-son-Doty, director of the entity, told the press that the statistics are a reason “for optimism.” However,
she warned that some Caribbean states are show-ing difficulties in recovering from the effects of the global crisis, “especially those that strongly de-pend on the British market.”
in such a context, she criticized the sadly well-known Air Passenger Duty, a tax on flights to all countries in the world applied by London and that is especially affecting the Caribbean tourist indus-try.
According to experts, the unfortunate tax is to blame. The reason for this is that average British citizens always liked to exchange their rainy and cold cities for the tropical islands with mean tem-peratures of 24 to 25 degrees centigrade at least once a year, where, except during the hurricane season, they have nothing to fear from nature.
The image of drinking ice-cold cocktails made with fruit juice and liquor while resting on a long chair in the middle of the white sand and facing a blue sea that attracts, is still a powerful dream that many in the European country want to make come true every summer.
For example, Cuba has the largest amount of reservations made by the British to vacation next year in the Caribbean region, according to the on-line British travel agency Loveholidays, cited by the magazine Caribbean News Digital. Jonny Marsh, the specialized portal’s executive, said that that Caribbean country has 70% of all the reservations made to the region for 2014.
But the pocket factor, ever more worrying with the Air Passenger Duty, continues being, more than dissuasive, a nightmare. •
British Travel Less to the Caribbean
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Central America Predicts More Than 6% Growth in TourismDuRiNG 2013 Central America should receive 9.9 million international tourists, 6.1% more than in 2012, a study by the secretariat of Tourist integration of Cen-tral America (siTCA) predicted.
According to the forecasts, Costa Rica and Guatemala would be the coun-tries receiving the most travelers, with more than two million each; the average spending by visitor would reach 1,016.63 dollars as compared to 1,016.18 in 2012; Panama would be the country generating the most hard currency, while Nica-ragua would be the opposite.
During the period from 2000 to 2012, tourism in Central America grew 122.8% when it went from 4.23 to 9.39 million international tourists, with an av-erage annual increase of 7%, according to data provided by siTCA.
The regional market has historically been its principal issuer, with 40% of the total, while the North American market represented 35-40% and Europe and south America 10% each.
Gran Jaguar Temple. Guatemala is
one of the Central American coun-
tries receiving the most travelers.
PANAMA has dedicated 200 million dollars to modernize and restructure its airport infrastructure. The works are being carried out in at least a dozen run-ways and airfields in the country, according to the Civil Aeronautics Authority (AAC).
The Enrique Malek, Colón and Río Hato airports –located close to important tourist development projects– will be modernized with investments of 58.3, 27.4 and 17.3 million dollars, respectively. The three airports have been designed for the landing of Boeing 757-200 aircraft with capacity for 228 passengers and will be able to assimilate 500 passengers simultaneously, entering as well as leaving.
Moreover, 22 million dollars have been assigned for the construction of a new Air Traffic Control Center in order to guarantee safe navigation.
The project, that also includes the Tocumen international Airport, which ca-ters to around eight million passengers a year, seeks to improve connectivity and give a boost to arrivals in the country.
Panama Modernizes Its Airport Network
LAN to Link Bogotá and Aruba
sTARTiNG December 1, 2013, LAN will operate on the Bogotá-Aruba route with two weekly frequencies, Wednesday and sunday, in night-time schedules and using Airbus A320 aircraft with capacity for 174 passengers.
AViANCA announced a new flight from Costa Rica to Newark Liberty international Airport in New Jersey, the united states, through the El salvador connection center. it will start operating on November 8, four times a week: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and sunday.
New Costa Rica-El Salvador-New Jersey Flight
Sunrise Airways to Fly to Cuba
THE NEW Haitian sunrise Airways has received Cuba’s permission to oper-ate regular charter flights between Port-au-Prince and the eastern city of Holguín, a service that will start in the autumn of 2013 and will involve a second destination outside Haiti’s borders.
British Airways Expands Services to the Caribbean
BRiTisH Airways will increase the fre-quencies to saint Lucia, Punta Cana, Antigua and Kingston, expanding to seven, three, six and four, respective-ly, the weekly links to those Carib-bean destinations. With the addition of an extra Boeing 777 to its fleet in London’s Gatwick, the operation will start next summer.
Air Europa Inaugurates New Madrid-La Romana, Dominican Republic, Route
THE sPANisH Air Europa airline (of the Globalia group) announced it will inau-gurate a new route between Madrid and La Romana international Airport in the Dominican Republic next December 16, which will remain until March 31, 2014. The flights will be once a week, every Monday, with an Airbus 330-200, leaving Madrid at 4:00 p.m. and from La Romana at 10:00 p.m.
With these new routes Air Europa is consolidating itself as the principal spanish airline flying to the Dominican Republic, since it also has seven flights per week to Punta Cana and 14 weekly flights to santo Domingo.
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A sTuDY for the British tourist mart carried out by the online Loveholidays travel agency of the unit-ed Kingdom on the destinations displaying the largest sales in the Caribbean revealed that Jamai-ca is the fastest growing destination, with a year-on-year increase of 50% in reservations.
The results show that the majority of the reser-vations for vacations in Jamaica are within the all-
inclusive modality. This destination also appears as the cheapest for travelers with a tight budget, ac-cording to a recent report by the British Post Office.
Meanwhile, Cuba is the most popular destina-tion for 2014, with 70% of all the sales for the Ca-ribbean, according to Loveholidays.com. Accord-ing to Jonny Marsh, an executive of the specialized portal, until now this country was off the radar of
the area’s principal current. However, at present, the all-inclusive offers in five-star hotels are able to position it among the principal attractions of the travel market in the European nation.
Marsh also highlighted that Cuba has 70% of the total of reservations made for the region for 2014, and that it offers an excellent value for mon-ey for the British because of its quality products. •
Jamaica is the cheapest destination for travelers
with a tight budget.
Jamaica and Cuba, Among the Preference of Britons for 2014
boutique hotel and a commercial complex. The con-struction of the Aquatic Park will begin in 2014.
The principal investments being carried out in-clude the remodeling of the Marina Gaviota Varadero, in Punta Hicacos, which once concluded will be one of the most complete and best tourist ports in the Caribbean. Varadero has another international marina, the Dársena, which will also be renovated like the Chapelín nautical base.
important construction works are being undertaken in the underground electrical system to perfect the destination’s infrastructure, and the sur Thru-way is about to be finished.
since 2008, Varadero has been receiving more than a million foreign tourists a year, which represents 44% of the visitors to the country. Canadians are the leaders in stays in the famous beach resort, around 45% of the total, followed by Cuban clients, and tourists from Germany, united Kingdom, Russia, France and Argentina. •
“VARADERo has a clear strategy that will make it possible to consolidate it as the country’s princi-pal holiday destination,” Cuban Minister of Tourism Manuel Marrero said. A detailed study has been carried out to facilitate its reor-ganization and development, and based on its results the installations that are not compatible with the tourist development are being extracted, and there is even the possibility of the demolition of those that in their time were built on the beach dunes.
With 50 hotels (around 40% of Cuba’s hotel plant), more than 3,000 rooms will be added to their current 20,395 rooms with the investments, in different stages, of new hotels –Las Conchas, Cayo Buba, internacional and Mediterrá-neo– and the expansion of the Paradisus Varadero.
The diversification of the non-hotel offer is a short-term priority, to which proj-ects like that of Carbonera, 15 km from Varadero, contributes. it includes an 18-hole golf course, a real estate project consisting of 750 apartments, 200 residences, a
Marina Gaviota Varadero, in Punta Hicacos. Once
concluded, it will be one of the most complete and
best tourist ports in the Caribbean.
Varadero Consolidates as Cuba’s Principal Holiday Destination
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products
“The northeast coast of the united states, the area where government workers were im-mediately affected by the shutdown, accounts for around 86 percent of the Bahamas’ tourism market” and this will affect the archipelago, smith commented.
“That situation could cause some contrac-tion in our economy,” which depends on tour-ism, mainly by u.s. visitors, he added. The move meant that more than 800,000 u.s. govern-ment workers were sent home from work tem-porarily. •©
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If U.S. Government “Shuts Down”, Bahamas Will Be Affected
FiNANCiAL analyst James smith told the daily The Nassau Guardian that the u.s. government’s partial shutdown could have troubling reper-cussions for the tourism industry in the Baha-mas and in many other Caribbean islands.
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▶ ENCANTO: Refined and elegant, the Hoteles E combine personal-ized attention with a vast range of complementary services. They stand out for the Cuban touch in the decoration and harmony be-tween the old and contemporary intentions, without depriving guests of comfort and access to technologies. •
Gran Caribe Product Lines
▶ CLASSIC: Represented by four-star city hotels. Elegant and tradition-al, jewels of a singular and varied architecture that combines the eclectic and modern styles of the 1950s.
▶ CLUB PREMIUM: includes four-star, All-inclusive hotels located on beaches or keys, a standard-ized offer that favors a good at-tention to clients and a fair value for money.
▶ HOLA CLUB: Three-star hotels that have the beach as their nat-ural resource par excellence, in natural environments. They of-fer a somewhat informal service, according to that type of facil-ity, without diminishing the el-egance and quality that identify Gran Caribe.
GRAN CARiBE is a tourist business group continuously upgrading it-self, based on efficiency and eco-nomic and operational efficacy.
According to its Development strategy, whose principal goal is positioning it in the different mar-kets with offers that stand out for excellent value for money, the Gran Caribe Hotel Group has set its objective on consolidating the Brand and its new Product Lines to differentiate them from the com-petition by promoting the hu-man and historic-cultural values and guaranteeing its guests’ sat-isfaction.
The marketing policy would intensify, based on a clever mar-keting philosophy oriented at clients, the innovation of the product and the improvement of services. Gran Caribe covers a wide range of offers, from those associated to local heritage to those on the beach front line or on virgin keys, in close contact with nature.
Gran Caribe Consolidates its Brand and New Product Lines
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technology
Dr. José Enrique Salgado Professor of the University of Havana
and Marketing Director of Amadeus
Cuba
THE CARiBBEAN has a potential market of more than 200 million persons and a Gross Domestic Prod-uct of over half a trillion dollars. if the tourist companies adopt the ad-equate strategy to make known the variety of attractions in these coun-tries and are able to position them as vanguard destinations, we could see an important evolution that would bring benefits and development to the sector.
Mainly due to its cultural wealth and paradisiacal beaches, the Carib-bean has an important tourist po-tential. in addition to the traditional activities, we are presently seeing an interesting opportunity that could favor significantly the sector’s growth: luxury tourism, boosted by those seeking to live unique and ex-clusive experiences in exotic desti-nations. The region’s countries have multiple exotic locations and can obtain positive results if they take advantage of the resources without exploiting them excessively.
one of the focused countries is Cuba, since it has rapidly positioned itself as an emerging destination for luxury tourism. its attractions espe-cially include its people’s hospital-ity and joie de vivre, always friendly with tourists. And to complement the experience, the country has marvelous beaches, five-star hotels, diverse options to enjoy art, culture and partying, as well as being a very safe place.
As a greater number of potential travelers are attracted, the tourist companies need to have the tools to help them offer their clients a wide range of options. Expecting this, we at Amadeus have developed through the years diverse solutions for differ-ent actors of the tourist sector, like travel agencies, tour operators, air-lines, hotel chains, among others.
Amadeus is the technological supplier of reference for the travel industry with a world presence, in-
cluding the Caribbean. Amadeus started betting especially on Cuba more than 20 years ago and has sup-ported diverse tourist companies and been able to streamline their processes and increase operations. An example of this is its flagship airline Cubana de Aviación which since 1993 has been working with Amadeus’ Global Distribution sys-tem (GDs) and other technological solutions. Moreover, the majority of the foreign airlines flying to and from Cuba like Air France, AirEuropa, Avianca-Taca, also distribute their contents through Amadeus.
Multiple hotel chains operating in Cuba also distribute the details of the capacities in their hotels via Amadeus, be it directly or through agreements with reservation sta-tions and online travel agencies. in addition to the international Meliá and Accor, the Cuban Gran Caribe, Cubanacán and islazul chains also have had a direct relationship with Amadeus since 2008, as well as Habaguanex and Hotel Palco, which
distribute their contents through res-ervation stations and travel agencies.
The cycle of Amadeus suppli-ers is completed with a commer-cial agreement signed in 2011 with the Havanatur s.A. international Group of Tour operators and Travel Agencies. Ever since then, Amadeus provides all the agencies and 56 Havanatur outlets in Cuba with equipment and access to GDs. Thus, all of Havanatur’s agents can have access to the Amadeus selling Plat-form (AsP), the application for out-lets in travel agencies most used throughout the world.
on the other hand, Cubatur has 15 outlets that started operating with AsP. That tool contributes to increasing the sales of travel profes-sionals through a single point of ac-cess to all the tariffs and to the of-fer of a wider range of products. The solution facilitates the work of the agents thanks to its optimized busi-ness processes and personalized services that allow them to easily navigate through the available op-
tions and sell services that are addi-tional to the basic tariff.
For Amadeus, the operation in Cuba is very important. it currently supports industry by providing so-lutions that enable the expansion of tourism through tools for the dis-tribution of its services on a world level. We estimate that as a result of the collaboration with Amadeus, the Cuban travel agencies will achieve an average of more than 3,000 res-ervations a month in the last three months of 2013 through the GDs, increasing by fourfold what was achieved in 2012.
our principal objective is to cre-ate and provide tools that contribute to the growth of tourism through the constant investment in research and development. Amadeus’ invest-ment in that sphere surpassed two billion euros between 2004 and 2011. This year we will continue mak-ing efforts to keep being the leader of technological solutions geared at forging the future of travel on a world level. •
The cycle of Amadeus
suppliers is comple-
ted with the commer-
cial agreement signed
with Havanatur S.A.
Cuba and the Caribbean: Emerging Destinations for Luxury Tourism
Travel Trade Caribbean • Year XIII • No. 224 • November 2013
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events
THE 15th EDiTioN of the Dominican Annual Tourism Exchange (DATE 2014), the Dominican tourist sector’s most important fair, will take place March 26-28 at the Convention Center of the Paradisus Palma Real, in Punta Cana.
structured by pre-arranged dates, for two days international buyers will meet with the country’s principal suppliers. This edition is of special interest for tour operators and meeting organizers seeking exciting product alternatives in the country and in the Caribbean sphere.
Created to provide a professional atmosphere of business exchanges be-tween tour operators, travel agents and suppliers of the tourist product, since its debut in 2000 DATE –organized by the Association of Hotels and Tourism (AsoNAHoREs) of the Dominican Republic in association with the Ministry of Tourism– has been able to establish itself as an official event of the sector.
The Paradisus Palma Real’s Convention Center should open in December 2013. it comprises an area of 18,000 m2 of multifunctional and flexible space, with ceilings that are up to 29-feet high. •
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DATE 2014, the Dominican Tourist Sector’s Most Important Fair
with important tour operators and other tourism professionals, as well as establishing marketing contract actions.
The British market continues be-ing one of the island’s principal is-suers, ranking second despite the reduction displayed. in the January-August total, the latest official avail-able figures –of the National office of statistics and information– at the close of this edition, 102,097 British visitors had arrived in Cuba (5.1% of the total). Last year the island re-ceived 153,737 tourists from the unit-ed Kingdom. •
THE CARiBBEAN island’s delegation is headed by the Ministry of Tourism and the office in Charge of Tourism of the Cuban embassy in the united Kingdom, in addition to comprising the following Cuban entities: the Cu-banacán, Gaviota Tourism groups and the Gran Caribe and islazul hotel groups; the san Cristóbal, Cubatur and Gaviota Tours travel agencies, the Habaguanex company, Hava-natur and Palco Group. The Meliá, occidental, Roc-Hotels, Barceló, su-perclubs and sandals international hotel chains will be joining the del-egation.
Cuba’s objectives with its partici-pation include making new contacts
Cuba at WTM 2013STAND CA 140
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tourism
THE PEGAs Turistik tour operator, which will work during the next Cuban peak winter season with vacationers from Russia, has inaugurated a direct flight to Varadero, the country’s principal beach re-sort.
With a bimonthly frequency and having start-ed on october 25, that European company will use Boeing 777s seating 364 passengers of the orenair airline, the Cubanacán travel agency reported.
Direct Flights from Russia to Varadero
Prestigious international chains participate in the
management of its hotels.
pansion of capacities in the María La Gorda inter-national scuba Diving Center; three new hotels in Varadero, one of them in Cayo Buba, which will be connected to terra firma by a causeway that will lengthen the Hicacos Peninsula; and three high-standard accommodations in the Historic Center of Havana.
one of the scenarios with the greatest growth for the Group spreads from Villa Clara to Ca-magüey: more than 45,000 new rooms with com-plementary installations like golf courses and ma-rinas. Meanwhile, there are plans for close to 8,000 new rooms between Holguín and Baracoa. •
Gaviota’s marinas, located in the Guanaha-cabibes Peninsula, Varadero, the Villa Clara keys, Cayo Coco and Holguín, are equipped with vessels for the modalities of game fishing, scuba diving and life on board. Part of the nautical offer is cen-tered in the aquariums-dolphinariums of Varadero, the Villa Clara keys and Holguín. Especially stand-ing out among them is the Marina Gaviota Varade-ro, “set to become one of the most pleasant and complete tourist ports of all the Caribbean in just a few months’ time.”
some of Gaviota’s immediate novelties and plans that deserve special mention are the ex-
Hotel Playa Cayo Santa
María. Villa Clara is one
of the scenarios with the
greatest growth.
AFTER 25 years of operations, the Gaviota Tourism Group has “more than 50 hotels in exploitation, with almost 22,000 rooms [around 30% of Cuba’s accommodation capacities]; a large team made up by 19,000 workers and an organization that works like clockwork to guarantee a complete tourist op-eration,” its promotion director, Lisbet Betancourt, affirmed in a recent presentation used as the foun-dation for this feature article.
An active investment projection and the ex-pansion of high-standard hotel products and asso-ciated services have placed the Group at an annual growth rate of more than 12% in accommodation capacity and tourists seen to.
The Group concentrates its hotel offer from one tip of the island to the other, in the Guana-hacabibes Peninsula, Havana, Varadero, Topes de Collantes, the Villa Clara keys, Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo (Ciego de Avila), the northern coast of Holguín and Pinares de Mayarí, in that same prov-ince; santiago de Cuba and Baracoa.
Prestigious international chains like Meliá, iberostar, Blau, H10, Riu, Blue Diamond, Hotusa, Pestana, among others, participate in the manage-ment of its hotels, the Group’s backbone, manag-ing a bit over 80% of the capacities.
The Group’s integral offer is enhanced by the Transgaviota transportation services and the Gaviota Tours travel agency, with representations in the country’s principal international airports and tourist destinations like Havana, Varadero, Villa Clara’s keys, Cayo Coco, Holguín and Baracoa.
Gaviota on the Year of its 25th Anniversary
Travel Trade Caribbean • Year XIII • No. 224 • November 2013
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caribbean
THE HAVANA-BAsED Caribbean Diving Centers travel agency is ready to officiate as the receptive of other agencies that, not being established in Cuba, send clients to the island, who could thus re-ceive a more personalized and painstaking direct treatment by the Caribbean agency…, as their representative.
since it is registered in the Chamber of Commerce of Cuba it is authorized to establish con-tractual relations with any Cuban travel agency, whose varied wide range of products are included in its offers.
it can issue air tickets thanks to the direct contracts signed with airlines like Blue Panorama, AirEuropa, Air France and Cayman Airways –the latter makes viable the design of multidestination programs in the Caribbean, espe-cially the Cayman islands. it also ar-ranges contracts directly with ho-tels like the Memories of the Blue Diamond chain and the Melías.
Caribbean Diving Centers also directly organizes tailor-made packages for individual tourists or groups, ranging from low-cost offers to deluxe options. Mean-while, it is developing its own products, which is the case of the nature tourism programs.
its wide-ranging portfolio covers, at very attractive prices: Different modalities of special-ized tourism, Accommodations, Thematic excursions, Car rentals, Multidestination, Transportation, Tourist packages and Airfares, national and international. it is promoting the sale of packages to Cuba’s group of keys in italy, Latin America, Korea, Russia and Turkey.
The Caribbean Diving Centers is favored by the privileged loca-tion of its office in Havana, in the Miramar Trade Center, a center of commercial activities in the heart of one of the most luxurious resi-dential districts of the capital. There, the clients who go receive immediate and personalized at-tention. •
Contact5ta Avenida entre 76 y 78Miramar, La HabanaMiramar Trade CenterEdificio santiago, Planta BajaTel.: (+537) 204 3330, ext. 101Email: info@caribbeandc.co.cuwww.descubrircuba.comwww.cubariadom.comwww.facebook.com/Descubrir.Cuba
Caribbean Diving Centers… a Peculiar Way of Getting to Know Cuba
Foreign Investment Grows in Latin AmericaFoREiGN direct investment to Latin America registered a moderate growth during the first half of 2013, as compared to the same period in 2012, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) reported. The 13 countries in the region that presented data re-ceived us$102.951 billion, 6% more than the amount registered during the first half of last year.
The principal receiver was Brazil. Mexico surpassed the foreign direct investment received in the first half of 2012. The flow of foreign direct investment also showed increases in Venezuela (44%), Peru (27%), El sal-vador (27%), Panama (19%), Costa Rica (15%), uruguay (8%) and Colom-bia (5%).
Basseterre.- Whatever st. Kitts is do-ing as a tourist destination, it should keep on doing it since the island oc-cupies the first positions on several world and regional rankings.
The island is number two among the 10 Best Caribbean Duty-free shopping Destinations, according to an international survey by the united states company Business Research and Economic Advisors (BREA).
Placed on the fourth position in 2009, st. Kitts improved its ranking in the overall visit, meeting expecta-tions, taxi/local transportation, his-toric sites and museums and tour satisfaction categories.
st. Kitts has also been ranked at number two in a list of the 16 Best Caribbean Vacations and number four among the 12 Best islands in the World by us News & World Re-port.
The Top 10 Winter sun Holiday Destinations by PureTravel.com, the Top 12 spots that should Be on Your List for 2012 by Caribbean Travel + Life magazine, the Editor’s Picks for 2012-2013: Best of the Caribbean by Caribbean Travel & Leisure, the 10 Caribbean islands You shouldn’t Miss –The Best of the Caribbean in 2012 by smarterTravel.com are some of the rankings naming st. Kitts. •
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St. Kitts Classifies on Several World and Regional Rankings
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tourism
EVERYTHiNG points to the Riviera Maya registering an increase of visi-tors in its different tourist destina-tions and accommodations due to the arrival of European tourism, mainly from the united Kingdom (in addition to Russia), according to
Darío Flota, director of the Tourist Promotion Trusteeship.
The united Kingdom is currently the most important European mar-ket for Mexico. Between 2010 and 2011 British tourist arrivals grew by 44.2%, while between 2011 and 2012
the increase was 15.1%. These tour-ists’ favorite destinations include Cancun and the Riviera Maya.
in 2012, around 42,000 British visi-tors arrived in the Mexican Carib-bean. Those tourists traveled for an average of 15 days and had an esti-
mated spending of 2,700 euros per person.
The Riviera Maya Tourist Barom-eter for July 2013 reported that out of the total of arrivals to that destina-tion since January, 162,653 were from the united Kingdom, equivalent to 6.42% of the total.
in congruence with the increase the British market has had in tourist matters, being one of the markets registering the greatest growth in the last two years, a diplomatic meeting was held between the consular au-thorities of the united Kingdom and executives from Quintana Roo, as part of actions to strengthen trade relations between issuer and receiv-er. some of the issues dealt with in-cluded Quintana Roo’s logistics for tourists in case of hurricanes, safety, tourist promotion and investments. •
Growth Predicted for British Market in Mexican Caribbean
offer of exquisite Cuban and international cui-sine dishes, a thermal pool and treatments with traditional medicine.
several tours of historic or landscape inter-est can be made from the Villa to the Caguanes National Park –especially its Department of Ar-chaeology–, the Jobo Rosado Protected Area or the Camilo Cienfuegos National Museum, just to cite some example.
ContactAve. Antonio Guiteras km 1 ½, Mayajigua, Yaguajay, sancti spíritusTel.: (53-41) 54 [email protected]
The Villa’s 74 rooms have AC, private bathroom, hot and cold water, telephone and satellite TV, as well as the personalized and specialized services provided by competent Cuban professionals, the
CoNsiDERED one of the principal tourist of-fers of the region of sancti spíritus, islazul Ho-tel Group’s Villa san José del Lago represents a stimulating and refreshing rest under the cover of Caribbean nature.
Located in the town of Mayajigua, Yagua-jay municipality, san José del Lago is favored by its mineral-medicinal thermal waters that have proven curative properties and make it possible to offer treatments to visitors suffer-ing from chronic osteomyarticulary, dermato-logical and nervous system diseases – with or without systemic repercussion -, especially ef-fective in cases of psoriasis. The area’s natural resources are an indispensable component in that therapy.
San José del Lago, Leisure and Quality of Life
