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Cayman Islands may pay for US citizens' passports
With less than six months to go before the much-feared Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) kicks in, Caribbean tourism officials have decided to reimburse passport costs to some US travellers.
The Cayman Islands is a member of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), which recently took the decision ahead of the 1 January 2007 date for US citizens to have passports ready for returning to the US.
American visitors to this country account for 40.5 percent of the guests who come here and they are the second most dependent on those travellers in the region, only behind Jamaica, which counts for 58.4 percent.
Other Caribbean countries likely to suffer economically if the new CTO measures fail are the British Virgin Islands (32.2 percent), the Bahamas (21.7), and St Kitts and Nevis (20.4).
Also expected to feel the blow from the fallout will be Aruba (18.2 percent), St Vincent and the Grenadines (14), Grenada (13.8) and the Dominican Republic (12.7).
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is expressing serious concerns over the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic whose tourism revenue represents 90 percent of their service exports, respectively.
Antigua and Barbuda's economy relies directly and indirectly from tourism with over 75 percent of its GDP coming from the hospitality sector.
Caribbean tourism researchers stated that total visitor exports earnings in the region are estimated at US$20.7 million. They also concluded that the Caribbean is the most dependent region on tourism.
Tourism has created 2.4 million jobs globally since 2004 and is responsible for one in five employees, according to experts in the field.
The WHTI dictates that Americans travelling back from the Caribbean by air and sea must be in possession of a passport. Currently, about 20 percent of Americans do not possess a passport.
To protect the loss of 188,300 jobs and US$2.6 million expected from a possible no-show of the millions of Americans without passports, the CTO has reacted with urgency, according to its management.
Secretary General of the CTO, Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, said that a two-prong attack has been devised to protect some of the region's economy from collapsing.
"We recommend for travellers 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're going through specific sites to direct our audience.
"The second initiative we have launched is paying Americans for the passport," he said. It would cost about US$400 to pay for a family of four.
In defending his organisation's decision to reimburse US citizens who obtain a passport to travel to the Caribbean, Mr Vanderpool-Wallace said:
"We would rather pay some small sum of money for their passport through some private sector sites than allow the tourists to stay closer home or within," he said.
He said he does not see any security issue with the new deal and the reimbursement would be made only to those who use their passport for the first time in the Caribbean.
US State Department spokesperson, Joe Mancini, welcomed the CTO plan as a "positive development in line with the Western Hemisphere Initiative".
There has been no immediate comment from the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism on the latest CTO position.
After the conclusion of last month's Caribbean Hotel Industry Conference in New York, which discussed the passport issue, Director of Tourism Pilar Bush said the Islands would benefit from an extension to the 1 January 2007 passport deadline.
Ms Bush said the Islands would go further to educate the American visitor on the importance of having a passport to travel to the Caribbean and other parts of the world.
"The extension of this deadline will benefit the Cayman Islands, but it will not allow us to stop educating our US guests on the need for a passport as the requirement will come, it is just a matter of when," she said.
Berthia Parle, outgoing President of the CHA, said she submitted a position paper to the Department of Homeland Security explaining the negative impact the US passport rules will have on the region.
She said it could spark social unrest and other imbalances in the region and beyond, according to e-Turbo News.
"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," she said.
Cayman Islands may pay for US citizens' passports
With less than six months to go before the much-feared Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) kicks in, Caribbean tourism officials have decided to reimburse passport costs to some US travellers.
The Cayman Islands is a member of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), which recently took the decision ahead of the 1 January 2007 date for US citizens to have passports ready for returning to the US.
American visitors to this country account for 40.5 percent of the guests who come here and they are the second most dependent on those travellers in the region, only behind Jamaica, which counts for 58.4 percent.
Other Caribbean countries likely to suffer economically if the new CTO measures fail are the British Virgin Islands (32.2 percent), the Bahamas (21.7), and St Kitts and Nevis (20.4).
Also expected to feel the blow from the fallout will be Aruba (18.2 percent), St Vincent and the Grenadines (14), Grenada (13.8) and the Dominican Republic (12.7).
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is expressing serious concerns over the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic whose tourism revenue represents 90 percent of their service exports, respectively.
Antigua and Barbuda's economy relies directly and indirectly from tourism with over 75 percent of its GDP coming from the hospitality sector.
Caribbean tourism researchers stated that total visitor exports earnings in the region are estimated at US$20.7 million. They also concluded that the Caribbean is the most dependent region on tourism.
Tourism has created 2.4 million jobs globally since 2004 and is responsible for one in five employees, according to experts in the field.
The WHTI dictates that Americans travelling back from the Caribbean by air and sea must be in possession of a passport. Currently, about 20 percent of Americans do not possess a passport.
To protect the loss of 188,300 jobs and US$2.6 million expected from a possible no-show of the millions of Americans without passports, the CTO has reacted with urgency, according to its management.
Secretary General of the CTO, Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, said that a two-prong attack has been devised to protect some of the region's economy from collapsing.
"We recommend for travellers 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're going through specific sites to direct our audience.
"The second initiative we have launched is paying Americans for the passport," he said. It would cost about US$400 to pay for a family of four.
In defending his organisation's decision to reimburse US citizens who obtain a passport to travel to the Caribbean, Mr Vanderpool-Wallace said:
"We would rather pay some small sum of money for their passport through some private sector sites than allow the tourists to stay closer home or within," he said.
He said he does not see any security issue with the new deal and the reimbursement would be made only to those who use their passport for the first time in the Caribbean.
US State Department spokesperson, Joe Mancini, welcomed the CTO plan as a "positive development in line with the Western Hemisphere Initiative".
There has been no immediate comment from the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism on the latest CTO position.
After the conclusion of last month's Caribbean Hotel Industry Conference in New York, which discussed the passport issue, Director of Tourism Pilar Bush said the Islands would benefit from an extension to the 1 January 2007 passport deadline.
Ms Bush said the Islands would go further to educate the American visitor on the importance of having a passport to travel to the Caribbean and other parts of the world.
"The extension of this deadline will benefit the Cayman Islands, but it will not allow us to stop educating our US guests on the need for a passport as the requirement will come, it is just a matter of when," she said.
Berthia Parle, outgoing President of the CHA, said she submitted a position paper to the Department of Homeland Security explaining the negative impact the US passport rules will have on the region.
She said it could spark social unrest and other imbalances in the region and beyond, according to e-Turbo News.
"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," she said.