Paradise Island, Bahamas – Tourism in the Caribbean is benefitting from new markets including Russia and Latin America, say experts.
At this year’s Caribbean Travel Marketplace in the Bahamas, officials noted there were 11 buyers from Russia.
Alec Sanguinetti of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association said he had spoken to some of the buyers and several of them had visited the region previously. He said there were now direct flights to several Caribbean locations from Russia including Jamaica. It was also pleasing, he said, that numbers from continental Europe – with the exception of the UK – were on the increase.
Josef Forstmayr, president of the association, said the time was ripe for the Caribbean to focus on Latin American countries as source markets.
“Many Caribbean countries have invested in airlift out of Latin America and we are seeing more efforts to bring that business to our islands,” he said.
It was very important to revisit visa arrangements to remove barriers to entry, or to make it easy to buy a visa at the airport itself. Several Caribbean destinations have already removed visa requirements for Brazilian and Columbian travellers.
“It is the future of the Caribbean,” he said.
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