PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Islands; Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 – "Being dubbed the ‘leading Star of the Caribbean’ by the Caribbean Development Bank in 1996, the tourism industry of the Turks and Caicos Islands continues to show its strength as the motor that runs the economy of this ‘Beautiful by Nature’ tourism destination despite the economic challenges and increase competition from regional and other tourism destinations.
One may ask what secrets that Turks and Caicos Islands possess that allows it to have such competitive edge over most of its competitors in tough economic times like these. Is it the strategic location to its primary markets, the USA and Canada; direct flights from many major gateways in North America; plethora of tourism destinations in-country that offer a variety of attractions and tourism activities; splendid local and international cuisine; best beaches in the world; third largest barrier reef or is it the quality service delivered by the most friendliest people in the world; no, its is the combination of all these attributes that keep visitors coming back to these islands and potential visitors desirous of making it to the Turks and Caicos on their next vacation.
After the attacks of September 11, 2001, the economy in our main market, the USA, begun to experience a significant downturn. The visitors to Turks and Caicos at the end of 2001, which totaled 165,836, were up by 9% relative to the average increase of 20% enjoyed in prior years. 2002 arrival figures followed the same path of the previous year with a 5% decrease bringing visitor arrivals to 156,976. The decrease in visitors could have been substantial and it is testimony to the fact that because of careful planning and cooperative efforts by the Turks and Caicos Tourist Board and its tourism collaborates, the tourism business to the destination continues to remain stable.
The above scenario holds true today as is evidence from the period 2004 leading up to the first quarter of 2007 and onto 2008 where the tourism business to the Turks and Caicos Islands increase on average of 8.4% with tourist arrivals for 2005 (236,924) relative to 2004 (229,625) increase by 3.18%; tourist arrivals for 2006 (298,342) relative to 2005 realized a substantial increase of some 26%; tourist arrivals for 2007 (286,395) compare to 2006 decrease by 4%; and tourist arrivals for 2008 (301,278) relative to 2007 increase by some 5.2%.
Realizing that tourism performance cannot only be measured by tourism numbers alone, the government through the Ministry of Tourism and the Turks and Caicos Tourist Board in consultation with the Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association felt the need to improve the quality of the tourist to the destination, while simultaneously not decreasing the quantity.
To achieve the above, the Ministry of Tourism, TCI Tourist Board and its tourism partners embarked on a US$7 Million marketing campaign to target the traditional markets, but to place more emphasis on targeting the upper echelon of the market segments in key tourism generating destinations and strategically expanding its market to Europe, including, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany.
Simultaneously, the government began planning the redevelopment of the Providenciales international airport, to include the lengthening of the runway to accommodate larger aircraft, like 777s and 787s and direct Trans-Atlantic flights, augmented by a state of the art brand new arrival terminal. To date, the Airports Authority is finalizing negotiations for works to start later this year.
Implemented at the beginning of the second quarter of 2007, increase emphasis was placed on attracting high net worth tourists, hence the need to advertise in Forbes, Robb Report, Elite Traveler, Rodale, New York Times, Conde Naste, Travel and Leisure, and Departures and American Way magazines where this market segmented is best targeted.
A year later, 2008, the Ministry of Tourism and the TCI Tourist Board and the assistance of the TCHTA efforts to promote the destination in the aforementioned key magazines, billboards etc. proved fruitful with 5.2% increase in tourist arrivals relative to the 2007 figure. This can be construed that the increase, though not substantial as is evident in 2006, speaks to the fact that a quality group of tourist was attracted due to the destination been showcased in the media that target the high net worth travelers.
Meanwhile, the cruise tourism business continues to soar because the new marketing campaign not only targeted land base tourists, but cruise visitors as well.
To date, from January to June 2009 some 230,000 cruise passengers have visited the destination and, with some of the busier months to come, cruise visitors numbers can very well exceed the 500,000 mark this year for the first time since the opening of the state of the art cruise terminal in Grand Turk in May 2006. To further show that TCI Tourism Industry is holding its own and performing well in challenging economic times like these; let us look at the tourism performance of some of our regional competitors.
According to statistic from the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) in Bridgetown, Barbados, tourist arrivals for four major regional tourism destinations has decreased on average by some12.75% for the period January thru May 2009. The Bahamas experience a 15.2% decrease during the aforementioned period; Barbados arrivals decreased by 8.5%; Cayman arrivals decreased by 13.2%; and Antigua and Barbuda arrivals decreased by some 14.1% during the period January thru May 2009.
For the Turks and Caicos Islands, the performance of the tourism industry for the period January thru May 2009 shows that the destination is holding its own and this is directly attributed to the government through the Ministry of Tourism and the Tourist Board having the foresight with the implementation of the new marketing campaign.
Statistics show that tourist arrivals for the Turks and Caicos Islands for the first five months of 2009 decreased by some 9.6% relative to the same period in 2008, but less than the average decrease of the aforementioned four major regional tourism destinations of some 12.75% .
Whilst some might have criticized the two year, US$7 Million new marketing campaign, it is evident that in the absence of the campaign TCI Tourism Industry would have been worst off, as the implementation of the campaign was just prior to the economic challenges in key TCI markets and the campaign benefits made its mark at a time when it was most needed, that is in tough economic times.
I am confident and look forward with great optimism, as without a doubt, the tourism industry in the Turks and Caicos Islands has much life, is alive and well, vibrant with tourist arrivals increasing almost year after year and the substantial development of the tourism industry in all islands, especially Providenciales, North Caicos, Grand Turk and South Caicos, Parrot Cay, Pine Cay, West Caicos and development agreements being finalized for Salt Cay and Middle Caicos, leaves much to be desired.
While the cruise ship business for Grand Turk, and by extension the Turks and Caicos Islands is timely, plans are already afoot to adequately manage the substantial increase in visitor numbers with the TCI Tourist Board and its partners including the Department of the Environment and Coastal Resources and the National Trust in establishing carrying capacities for natural and historical attractions respectively.
This year, 2009, despite the economic challenges and stiff competition for the tourist dollar, Turks Caicos Islands land and cruise tourism industries is destined to fare off well and this is attributed to the intuitive boldness by the government and timely marketing efforts of the TCI Tourist Board, the Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association and other hotel operations, Carnival Corporation and its member cruise lines and other tourism and related establishments; however, we cannot rest on our laurels because the competitors are working overtime to increase their share of the tourism business and we must endeavor to not only keep ours, but create visitor experiences that is unique to the TCI, continuously improve guest service delivery so that delighted visitors would return to enjoy these ‘Beautiful by Nature’ islands and share their experience with others to make it Turks and Caicos for their next vacation."
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