A World Travel and Tourism Council report cites the Cayman Islands as being the second most impacted country on a relative scale with regard to per cent of visitor exports in jeopardy because of new US passport regulations.
The regulations will require US citizens visiting the Caribbean to be in possession of a valid US passport to re-enter the US, effective January 1, 2006.
The report, which was carried out on behalf of the CHA, puts the figure of visitor exports at risk for Cayman at 40.5 per cent. Jamaica is most at risk with 58.4 per cent. Overall, 12.6 per cent of visitor exports to the Caribbean are in jeopardy, it says.
The percentage of US visitors travelling to Cayman by air without passports is 22 per cent.
The Caribbean Hotel Association points out that US visitor share for the Cayman Islands is 80 per cent. This figure is included in a report sent by the CHA to the United States of America Department of Homeland Security with regard to new passport regulations in the US.
This report is being sent to advocate the extension of time for the Caribbean to the same introductory date as Mexico and Canada, January 1, 2008, to allow the region’s tourism better time to prepare.
The study done by the WTTC concluded that in the Caribbean as much as US$2.6 billion of visitor export earnings and more than 188,000 travel and tourism jobs could be at risk.
If extension of time is granted, US visitors can be encouraged to apply for passports, says the CHA.
An additional negative impact to the initiative includes the impact on the choice of a Caribbean destination for those US citizens who are not willing to pay the extra cost, approaching $400 for a family of four.
This impact could be of a permanent nature where US citizens without a passport can only select to visit US territories in the Caribbean, says the report.
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