Page 14 - ASUTIL 2024 Edition

INSIDER

Business travel lags behind leisure, but
starting to improve
While the Caribbean’s post-pandemic
travel recovery is being driven by leisure
visitors, business travel is showing just
3% growth over the same period. This
highlights the slower recovery of this
segment as virtual meetings remain
prevalent post-pandemic.
However, there is encouraging growth
at a destination level, with the Dominican
Republic (+14%), the U.S. Virgin Islands
(+29%) and the Cayman Islands (+23%) all
showing substantial increases in overseas
business travel arrivals.

Premium class travel gains
Bookings in high-end cabins – First
and Business class – are substantially
outperforming the market average, reports
ForwardKeys, showing growth of 39%
compared to the same period in 2023.
This indicates the “enduring strength”
of luxury travel to the region, says the St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
report. The Turks & Caicos Islands
(+73%), the Cayman Islands (+68%), and highest growth in high-end travel, and is slower at +2%, but a number of origin
the U.S. Virgin Islands are showing the collectively account for almost 10% of all markets are performing above average,
premium arrivals. especially Germany (+11%), the UK (+6%)
This trend bodes very well for luxury and the Netherlands (+5%) — a promising
travel retail and duty free sales in the sign for Caribbean destinations as these
region. markets are traditionally associated with
higher than average spend.
Intra-Caribbean connectivity & multi- Intra-regional connectivity is crucial
destination trips as the Caribbean seeks to attract more
Connectivity (air capacity) to the multi-destination travelers looking to
Caribbean is showing impressive growth, explore the diversity of the region’s tourism
increasing +13% overall in the first half offer.
of 2024 compared to the previous year.
Canada is contributing significantly to this Connectivity: North America
success with an increase in seat capacity Toronto is the top-performing
of +17%, which makes it the largest origin North American origin city for travel to
market currently performing above the the Caribbean in the first half of 2024,
global average. The U.S., which is the with arrivals up 23% year-on-year. This
largest origin market overall, is tracking growth was supported by a 15% increase
global average growth at 13%. in seat capacity between Toronto and the
However, intra-Caribbean connectivity Caribbean, with various airlines increasing
expanded by 20% year-on-year. the number of available flights.
This is a critical element to enable In the United States, New York
multi-destination trips within the region. (+13%) also shows sustained growth, as
The most notable increases were from well as key origin markets Dallas (+21%),
Cancun (+78%), Barbados (+56%) and the Orlando (+18%), Charlotte (+18%) and
U.S. Virgin Islands (+50%). Washington D.C. (+18%), more indications
Connectivity from Latin America of the ongoing strength of U.S. demand for
delivered a more moderate increase, with Caribbean destinations, says ForwardKeys.
6% growth in capacity over the same Direct flights between North America
period. However, at the country level there and the Caribbean have improved
is significant growth in key markets. Brazil significantly since 2019. In the first six
is the standout origin market with seats to months of 2024, 68% of all arrivals from
the Caribbean up an impressive +112%, the U.S. and Canada are flying directly to
followed by Argentina at +83%. their Caribbean destination, an increase
Growth in connectivity from Europe of 5 percentage points compared to pre-

ASUTIL Special Issue June 2024 14