Travel Weekly Digital Edition

Destinations such as Jamaica, St. Lucia and the Dominican Republic have reported declining U.S. arrivals in 2007.

Suspension of passport law pleases the region

By Gay Nagle Myers

The Caribbean Tourism Organization, representing 32 nations across the region, applauded the actions of the U.S. government to temporarily ease the passport requirements of U.S. air travelers returning to the U.S. through Sept. 30 if travelers can produce evidence that they have applied for but not received their passports.

The CTO also said that a proposed law delaying the requirement that cruise passengers hold passports would help ease traveler frustration.

That requirement, scheduled to take effect in January, could be pushed back to June 2009 due to a huge backlog of passport applications.

The CTO urged that the law requiring U.S. air passengers to travel with a passport be delayed until June 2009, too.

“The evidence now is overwhelming that tourism and commerce in the Caribbean region have suffered considerably as a result of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative passport rules, as was predicted by the U.S.’ own study by the Customs and Border Protection in August 2006 as well as by a study by the World Travel and Tourism

Council,” said Allen Chastanet, CTO chairman and St. Lucia’s tourism minister. “By excluding the Caribbean from further delay in its implementation, the consequences will be severe.”

Caribbean destinations such as Jamaica, St. Lucia and the Dominican Republic have experienced a declining number of U.S. visitors in the first four months of 2007, Chastanet said.

CARIBBEAN

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Cayman Summer Splash

CTO’s head man
addresses issues

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rotating alphabetic order; a search feature by amenities and properties that gives equal billing “to a four-room inn on Tortola as it does to Atlantis on Paradise Island”; a Find an Agent section and booking engine; video selections; a currency converter; a vacation planner; and a Google Earth function that will display specific property locations.

The Web address will be announced at the time of launch.

• Efficient distribution of pertinent information.

“The biggest failure in the Caribbean is the dearth of information regarding visitors,” Vanderpool-Wallace said.

He called for streamlining the processes used to obtain immigration data, sharing visitor evaluations and obtaining timely research on the financial performance of the tourism sector.

• Forestall, reduce and eliminate impediments to sustainable growth.

“In a world increasingly concerned about the environment, the Caribbean must be seen as refuge: fresh air, naturally clean, green and serene,” he said.

He urged a further extension beyond Sept. 30 of the recently eased passport entry requirements for U.S. air travelers (see story above) and advocated tax-free weeks for visitors to the region in September and October, traditionally slow travel periods during which hotel and attraction admission taxes would be waived.