Caribbean Travel is safe and secure and tourism and travel agents and other regional tourism stakeholders have been strongly advised to worry less about the sector’s growth and concentrate more on ensuring vacationers heading this way can always get and enjoy valuable and adventurous, memorable and unique holidays.
Chair of the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA), Jackie Friedman, says the Caribbean should not be too-worried about the future of travel and has indeed expressed confidence that the region’s tourism sector will continue growing.
Friedman offered her optimism while attending the 3rd Annual ASTA Caribbean Showcase at Sandals Royal in Curacao, at the end of August.
The ASTA chair said while it’s understandable there would be some concerns when considering the geo-political landscape – the conflicts taking place, the fact that this is an Election Year in the United States (a key source market for many islands) and talk of economic downturns, she’s confident about the travel industry’s strength.
She puts it this way: “People are resilient. They are not going to travel if they don’t have the means to do so, but they are prioritizing it more than they ever have before, so my advice is that the bookings may come a little closer in than they have in the past, because if there are uncertainty people may wait a bit longer before booking a vacation. But I am confident they are going to come.”
Friedman, who is also President of the Nexion Travel Group, assured that travel advisors, who continue to play a key role in driving visitors to the islands, are committed to booking Caribbean vacations for their clients.
She said today’s travelers are look for more experiential vacations and urged regional governments and tourism stakeholders to start thinking along those lines.
The ASTA chair said: “Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the things we are seeing is that consumers are valuing experiences – and in some cases, over the product when spending their money on travel.
“They want immersive vacations, to see the destination and learn the culture, to meet the people, taste the foods and just have that overall experience.
“In fact, we are actually seeing folks taking longer vacations than before…”
In this regard, Friedman commended Sandals Resorts International (SRI) for the role it continues playing in connecting travel advisors with various destinations.
This is the third year that Sandals has hosted the ASTA Caribbean Showcase, allowing hundreds of travel advisors – many for the first time – to experience the island of Curacao.
Earlier this year, Sandals hosted over-300 travel agents in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines – and before that, also hosted similar events in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) and The Bahamas, with the 2025 edition carded for Jamaica.
Gary Sadler, Executive Vice President of Sales and Industry Relations at Unique Vacations Inc. — an affiliate of the worldwide representatives for Sandals Resorts — said the company is committed to doing all it can to develop the regional tourism product.
He told the travel advisers, “We are very happy to welcome you to this destination, because… Isn’t it absolutely fantastic?
“It’s about you being here, you experiencing it and you recognizing that we are here to offer a quality product.
“And what a quality product means is that Sandals 2.0 is building amazing resorts like Sandals Royal Curacao, Sandals Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the recent announcement of Beaches Exuma – shaking the tree so you can sell; and when you sell well, you catch the fruits.”
STA President Zane Kerby also added his support for the work SRI continues doing, saying: “They’ve been a great partner to ASTA for many, many years.
“Sandals has been the host of Caribbean Showcase since its inception, they sponsor National Travel Advisor Day – and they are a proud partner at the highest level, so we are grateful for their partnership.”
Curacao’s Minister of Traffic, Transportation and Urban Planning, Hon. Charles Cooper, said the island has already felt the impact of Sandals since it opened its doors there two years ago.
“We are very glad that Sandals helped us grow the American market, because we were concentrating more on the Dutch market – which is European…
“But we wanted to grow the American market and Sandals was the pioneer helping us.
“We are not yet where we want to be, but the numbers are exponentially growing and Sandals has helped us greatly with that.
“Tourism at the moment is within 35 to 40% of our GDP – and that is the biggest one…
“We are aware, however, that we cannot bat only on tourism as a single economic pillar an we have to develop more.”
Counterpart Director of the Curacao Tourist Board, Muryad de Bruin, also addressed the benefits the partnership with Sandals has brought to Curaçao, saying: “As a Tourist Board, from Day-One we were on board with Sandals coming to Curaçao.
“We offered all our support to Sandals and that’s what we will continue doing. It’s a relationship of great value because, for us, having a brand like Sandals having a property in Curaçao, is very important.”