Has the tourism sector recovered from the economic downturn?
The 2015/2016 winter tourist season officially starts next week. It is the period when Barbados has traditionally been at its best tourism-wise. With the conditions in places like North America and Europe at their coldest between now and April, this is the time when people from those regions venture to warm places, and the Caribbean is one of the most popular locations to visit.
In Barbados’ case, it is one of the region’s leading tourism destinations. So far this year tourism has continued its rebound, as illustrated by long-stay arrival numbers and other data, including spending.
But with the island signalling its intention to become a year-round tourism destination, it will certainly not be business as usual. Not when the island will have to compete with the rest of the world at a time when it is best to visit them, when its warm.
With the economic climate around the world still challenge somewhat, what sort of environment will Barbados be operating in as it tries to become a year-round tourism destination of choice?
The latest information from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) revealed that the global travel and tourism sector “is forecast to grow by 3.5 per cent during 2015”.
“Despite a number of terrible regional incidents throughout the year, the sector will still grow one per cent faster than global GDP in 2015,” WTTC president and chief executive officer David Scowsill said.
The organisation is estimating that the sector’s total contribution to the world economy this year will be US$7.8 trillion and it will support 284 million jobs globally, a fact that “underlines its enormous significance to the economy of the world”.
Other WTTC information said visitor exports, which is money spent by foreign travellers, “are forecast to grow by 2.9 per cent in 2015, in line with the continuous growth of international travel”.
“Over the next ten years, travel and tourism is anticipated to contribute US$11.3 trillion in GDP to the world economy and will support 355 million jobs worldwide. This equates to one in ten jobs on the planet,” WTTC added.
In its 2015 Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report, the World Economic Forum said one of its key findings was that the travel and tourism industry “continues to grow more quickly than the global economy as a whole”.
“As proof of its resilience, the analysis shows that the sector’s growth – whether in terms of global air passenger traffic, occupancy rates or international arrivals – tends to return quickly after a shock,” the report stated.
It also said that “countries performing more strongly . . . are those that are better prepared to capture the opportunities of new trends: growing demand from emerging and developing countries; the differing preferences of travellers from ageing populations and a new generation of younger travellers; and the growing importance of online services and marketing, especially through mobile internet.
