By Janet Silvera, Freelance WriterWESTERN BUREAU:
THE CARIBBEAN will experience an earlier than normal winter tourist season starting in November, one month ahead of the official December 15 date, Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) President, Simon Suarez is predicting.
"We will have an early season, the region as a whole will have a significantly improved winter season compared with last year," he disclosed to The Sunday Gleaner, at the opening of the Taste of the Caribbean competition currently taking place at the Jamaica Grande Hotel in Ocho Rios.
Winter in the region commences on December 15th annually and this type of forecast and windfall has not been seen since 1999, revealed the CHA president.
According to him, the Dominican Republic was forced to stop sale announcements to tour operators for certain days in October.
"This really means that those peaks of occupancy will increase in November and that helps us to predict an early winter," he added.
TRADITIONAL DESTINATIONS
However, the CHA head says that there are destinations that will be challenged and the known traditional destinations in the region are the ones getting the most attention at this time.
One destination reportedly challenged is St. Lucia and they have had to be piggy backing on the good fortunes of Barbados as that country gets 11 British Airways flights per week.
"But there are still a lot of persons saying they can't get to St. Lucia because the flights are full," says hotelier and CHA's President Elect, Berthia Parle. She feels that the time is ripe for the stronger governments of the region to help the weaker ones.
CHA Director General, Alec Singuinetti told the newspaper that the region is now a preferred long haul destination, emphasised by the increased capacity of Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, Air France and Corsair out of Europe.
GRADUAL RECOVERY
And with the gradual recovery of the United States economy airline partners are seeing increased consumer demand and are responding by unveiling additional flights and new routes to the region.
On November 1, 2003 American Airlines will be adding service from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Port-au-Prince, Haiti and from Fort Lauderdale to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. American will also begin non-stop weekend service between San Juan and Los Angeles December 19, using a 767 aircraft.
Air Jamaica announced earlier this year that beginning September 9, 2003, it would reschedule its service from Orlando, Florida, to Jamaica, operating five times a week, so that flights will arrive in its Montego Bay hub in time to connect with its onward service to various gateways throughout the Caribbean.
