Economy & Trade, Headlines, Latin America & the Caribbean

ECONOMY: ‘Sunny’ Caribbean Clouded by War and SARS

Bert Wilkinson

HAMILTON, Bermuda, Apr 3 2003 (IPS) - First came the Sep. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, then the threat of war in Iraq, followed by the current fighting and now SARS, a deadly offshoot of the virus that causes pneumonia.

Meeting for the first time since the United States and Britain launched war on Saddam Hussein’s Iraq last month, leaders of the Caribbean tourism industry are worried that current events could again derail a lifeline industry that was only just beginning to regain speed when war and SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) rocked the world.

Their prescription for preventing a relapse is to spend – to urge governments and the private sector to begin massive marketing programmes that would stabilise current levels of travel, or at worst, keep destinations in potential travellers’ minds until the war ends and SARS is contained.

Industry leaders point to the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, which has just dedicated 15 million dollars to promote the United States as a safe and comfortable destination; to China – one of the SARS ”hotspots” – which has set aside 40 million dollars; and to India where governments have allotted 60 million dollars because, the industry says, those countries recognise the importance of tourism and travel to their economies.

”We were doing very well this year after being down by 2.4 million arrivals last year and now we have to deal with these things, the war and SARS,” says Jean Holder, president of the Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) which includes 32 Caribbean destinations from Suriname to Cuba to the Bahamas.

Tourism accounts for as much as 50 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in some of the region’s countries. Apart from sugar in a handful of nations, it is the largest single employer.

The latest global shocks come at a time when at least eight of the region’s major destinations, including Barbados, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, were rebounding from the recent shocks, with the Dominican seeing arrivals increase by up to 25 percent. A tough winter in Europe and North America contributed to the rebound.

Industry experts predict that a short war of one to two months would result in a 1.7 percent decrease in the world’s GDP while a conflict continuing beyond that could affect the economy by four percent.

With such serious consequences, it is time that governments start paying more attention to tourism, say some delegates to the meeting, hosted by the Caribbean Hotels Association and the Bermuda government.

”The time has come when we need to sit down with finance ministers and other senior people in the cabinet to show them how important tourism is to the region, to the world,” says Jean-Claude Baumgarten, president of the London-based World Travel and Tourism Industry (WTTC).

”The time has come for a partnership between people in the travel industry and with those who make important decisions,” he adds.

This new thinking was prompted by the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, when world travel plummeted so greatly that many hotels, airlines and other sectors that depend on tourist dollars had not recovered fully when war in Iraq appeared on the horizon.

The prospect of another crash in the region’s dominant money-maker is one reason why leaders in the 15-nation Caribbean Community (CARICOM) plan to meet in Jamaica in an emergency session this weekend to examine the effects of war on their economies, just as they did in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.

Then, along with the private sector, they decided to raise 16 million dollars to fund an international advertising campaign targeting North American and European travellers. The programme was not even fully underway when the latest crises hit.