BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, (CMC) – The acting Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), Neil Walters, says the aim of the organisation in 2023 is to create mechanisms to ensure that the Caribbean remains in the top five of the fastest growing tourism regions in the world.

“To date, the majority of our efforts have been focused on traditional markets, resulting in the significant recovery outlined above. But we do recognise that even within and abounding our traditional source markets there are untapped markets which are ripe for growth including the non-traditional markets outside of the United States, United Kingdom and Europe,” Walters said in a New Year’s message.

He said last year, the Caribbean was among the fastest-recovering regions globally and would have reclaimed between 85 per cent and 90 per cent of total arrivals in 2019.

Walters said some individual destinations surpassed their 2019 levels with record-breaking performances, while others are approaching the benchmark levels of 2019, and are expected to equal or exceed these levels in 2023.

“Nevertheless, a few destinations will require a longer period to reach pre-(COVID-19) pandemic levels. We have seen unprecedented levels of airlift into the region from our source markets and the aforementioned recovery has been very evident in both land-based and cruise tourism,” he said.

“This speaks to the resilience of the sector and the positive perception of the region in our source markets, based on our hospitality, stability, connectivity and our perennial well-earned status as a region for wellness,” he added.

Walters said last year, and more particularly the second half of the year, had been a very encouraging one for Caribbean tourism.

“While we are still seeing elements of the effect of the pandemic on international travel here in the Caribbean, we have noted a much more consistent pattern of travel which is a good indicator of a return to normalcy and a path to 2019 levels,” said Walters.

But he acknowledged that the gains achieved could not have been attained without challenge.

“Our ability to learn from and recover from the significant challenges of the 27 months up to June 2022 is a testament to the resilience of Caribbean tourism and Caribbean people in general. Many of those challenges continue today, compounding the latent effects of the pandemic and evolving into new challenges for the tourism sector and Caribbean economies in general.

“Thus far, we have been able to ride out the supply chain issues, the political unrest existing in some regions of the world and the economic unrest which seems to be forever looming in our key source markets.”