FREE Passports for 2007 Caribbean travel!

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Caribbean offers to reimburse passport cost to US travelers
By Hazel Heyer l Special to eTN

At the recently concluded 2006 Caribbean Hotel Industry Conference organized by the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA), tourism leaders expressed serious concerns over the proposed Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative requiring Americans to have their passports ready by January 1, 2007 on traveling back from the Caribbean by air and sea. The issue is not so much the requirement as the effective date itself affecting US vacationers planning trips to the CARICOM.

According to a research by the WTTC on behalf of the Caribbean Hotels Association, visitor market share from the United States to the Caribbean and the percentage of those visitors who do not use a valid US passport will decline dramatically. Currently, about 20 percent of Americans do not possess a passport.

Based on the WTTC research, total visitor exports earnings in the Caribbean region are estimated at US$20.7 billion. Contribution to regional GDP for 2004 accounted for 14.8 percent of the total GDP representing US$28.4 billion for the region, according to the sponsored study. In 2006, the Caribbean travel economy went a couple of notches up 2005’s GDP contribution - going beyond the 15 percent mark.

The WTTC recognizes the Caribbean is the most dependent region in the world on tourism. If globally, the travel and tourism sector employs on in every five people, in the Caribbean, the figure is one in every four with 2,416,500 jobs created since 2004.

When the law takes into effect January 1, 2007, more than US$2.6 billion of visitor export earnings and more than 188,300 tourism jobs in the CARICOM could be at risk. Considering US visitor market share to the Caribbean is 51 percent of the total visitor market share and represents the largest market segment to the Caribbean, the repercussion to trade is huge.

USA’s market is double the size of the second regional visitor market share.

The hotel association recognizes the best way to demonstrate the impact of this on the Caribbean is to quantify in monetary terms. There are 35 countries in the organization, only 8 –Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Dominica, Guyana, St. Lucia, St. Eustasius, Trinidad and Tobago – require US citizens to enter with passports. There are 27 countries that do not require US visitors passports just yet. But come 2007, things will dramatically change.

Jamaica, counting on 58.4 percent US tourists, will feel the pinch, the most. Cayman Islands depends on 40.5 percent US visits, while the British Virgin Islands 32.2 percent, Bahamas 21.7 percent, St. Kitts and Nevis 20.4 percent, Aruba 18.2 percent, St. Vincent & the Grenadines 14 percent, Grenada 13.8 percent and the Dominican Republic 12.7 percent will have to look elsewhere for traffic.

Similarly, the United Nations-World Tourism Organization recognizes the powerhouse in the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic whose tourism receipts represent up to as much as 90 percent of their service exports. Antigua and Barbuda’s tourism contributes directly and indirectly to economy with over 75 percent of the GDP, according to UN-WTO Secretary General Francesco Frangialli.

Thus far, any regulation governing tourism to these countries will have significant toll.

Outgoing president of the CHA, Berthia Parle in her term recognized the real negative impact of the Western Hemisphere Initiative on the economies and jobs of the Caribbean countries and the hotel members of CHA. She submitted a position paper to the US Department of Homeland Security explaining the earlier introductory date proposed for the Caribbean will also have a potential to spark up social unrest and other imbalances in the region and beyond. Upon her departure as CHA head, she alluded to the issue before the CHIC attendees saying: “We must protect our hard-earned investments and the livelihood of the thousands, who depend on us for survival, whether our industry is threatened by the Western Hemisphere Initiative and other detrimental policies.”

Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, a firm believer of the use of the Internet to promote tourism to the maximum, thinks the information super-highway can be tapped to address the passport requirement issue. “We recommend for travelers trolling on websites looking for vacations to use those sites to educate themselves on the passport requirement. Rather than using en-masse advertising to tell the people, we are going through specific sites to direct our audience,” he said.

“Second of all, the second initiative we’ve launched is paying Americans for the passports,” said Vanderpool-Wallace. An additional negative impact by the initiative alongside the immediate decline will result from Americans having to choose another destination while they are not willing to pay the extra cost of a passport. Costs could approach $400.00 for a family of four. The impact could render itself permanent where US citizens without passport can only select to visit US territories in the Caribbean.

The CTO chief said the way to do that is to pay out of the commission to be paid to the website used by the traveler. One site has already started to do so. “We encourage others to do the same,” said Vanderpool-Wallace adding, “In that way, the customer will not have any difficulty whatsoever getting a travel document.”

Aren’t the islands spoiling the US travelers rotten by covering the cost of an official document every traveler in the world needs to have anyway in this day and age? “We have thought about it and the only option to take is to go someplace else. We’d rather pay some small sum of money for their passport through some private sector sites, than allow the tourists to stay closer to home or within.” For the cost of a $100, we get a new customer spending thousands of dollars in the Caribbean is not even a choice, he said adding that in effect, “We are actually reimbursing them for the passports they pay for to travel to our destination.”

Calling on the US policy-makers for reactions, eTN learned the gesture is welcomed.
“We perceive this as a positive development in line with the Western Hemisphere Initiative,” said US State Department spokesperson Joe Mancini. “However they receive or pay for them as US individuals, is perceived as positive development. As long as they comply, we are fine with that. ”

About a potential security breach and safety concern while making it dead easy for Americans to venture out, Vanderpool-Wallace said: “There won’t be any issue with security. We will reimburse provided we know the use of the passport first-time is for the Caribbean.”

But how will the private sector groups, travel agents and site managers know they will be the first destination to be visited?

“In truth, we won’t,” closed the CTO chair. “But by reason of their name and booking, we would know they are coming to the Caribbean. There’s almost an honor system.”