Source: Date: Updated: |
TheBahamasInvestor.com
Thursday, May 3, 2012 Thursday, May 3, 2012 |
San Juan, Puerto Rico–The Caribbean has traditionally eyed North America as its target market, with the Eastern Caribbean attracting visitors from Europe, particularly the United Kingdom.
With economies from these target markets in a downturn, industry leaders attending a recent regional tourism conference last week highlighted how they were being proactive to minimize the impact of these changes by tapping into non-traditional and niche markets.
Tourism is a vital part of the livelihood of the Caribbean. The industry welcomes 24 million stay-over visitors to the region annually. In some countries it contributes as much as 75 per cent to the gross domestic product (GDP).
“Shocks throughout the industry tend to reverberate more severely in the Caribbean than anywhere else,” says Hugh Riley (right), secretary general of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO). “Not surprisingly, any addition or reduction of investment opportunities in the Caribbean region is a matter that gets the attention of decision makers at the highest levels throughout the region.”