EDITOR’S NOTE: In edition 2021-03-26, #IslandsCaribbean started a series looking at the status of the Caribbean travel industry since the pandemic. That edition was dedicated to Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states. This newsletter concludes that series by looking at three non-CARICOM Caribbean states, namely: The Dominican Republic, Cuba and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Our headline which is taken from the Dominican Today reads: “Meliá Begins To See ‘Important Progress’ In Dominican Republic Tourism”. It described how the chain had occupancy levels that were “minimal (if not zero)” at the onset of the pandemic. But, significant improvement in three of its eight luxury all-inclusive hotels has convinced it to open the others.
Otherwise in the Dominican Republic, 80 percent of hotels are open: which their Minister of Tourism regards as “a world example of recovery in the midst of the pandemic, after compliance with the protocols and the current vaccination plan”. And, the ongoing vaccination programme is expected to yield even better results.
The picture is not as rosy for Cuba, where visitor arrivals decreased by 95.5 per cent compared to the same period last year. But, the U.S. Virgin Islands seems to have fared the pandemic best with only a 35 per cent reduction in visitor arrivals. It should however be recognized that Cuba also had to endure a tightening of the embargo against it.
IslandsCaribbean Weekday ed. 2021-03-30
