Peter Richards

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, Oct 18 2006 (IPS) — November is an election month in the United States. But that has not deterred Caribbean countries from mounting a mission to Washington in a bid to save their multi-million-dollar tourism industry following a decision by the United States to impose stricter travel measures on its own citizens.

“We have written a letter to all the prime ministers and the ministers of tourism last week and basically we said to them please go and see if they can conduct a lobby still at this late stage,” said Peter Odle, president of the Caribbean Hotel Association.

Caribbean countries are worried that the decision by the United States to implement the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) could decimate its tourism sector.

Last month, the U.S. Congress approved a further postponement of the WHTI, which requires U.S. citizens to have passports when traveling to the Caribbean, Bermuda, Canada and Mexico.

An exact date has not been announced, but Congress has agreed to relax the January 2007 implementation date to occur as late as June 2009. While the postponement defers the passport requirement for travel by land and sea, it has remained silent on air travel.

The effect of the WHTI has not been lost on regional governments and tourism stakeholders.

The issue dominated the just concluded annual Caribbean Media Exchange, which brought together regional public and private sector tourism officials and media representatives, and will feature at the Caribbean Tourism Organisation’s 29th annual conference that opens in the Bahamas on Friday.

Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace described the amendment as a “category six hurricane”.

“Needless to say, the affected Caribbean nations are extremely disappointed with this outcome because the potential economic impact on their business could be catastrophic,” he said.

The CTO official said that it is “incomprehensible that the United States government would approve an amendment that excludes air arrivals from the Caribbean and thereby grant an additional advantage to cruise lines in the Caribbean who already enjoy a significant competitive advantage.”

“We know that all of the affected governments made their own representation through several diplomatic channels prior to the final vote of this bill,” he added.

Pressure from the Caribbean is expected to intensify during the month as Caribbean foreign ministers travel to Washington for meetings with U.S. officials on a range of subjects.

“The cruise lines mounted a very effective campaign in Washington on behalf of their interests. The situation is very fluid and it behooves both the public and private sectors of the Caribbean to bring their concerns to the attention of the U.S. government,” said Vanderpool-Wallace.

Dominica’s trade and foreign affairs minister, Charles Savarin, likened the U.S. move to other decisions, notably on trade, that undercut Caribbean economies in recent years.

“So it would mean that wherever our economic interest exists that there are decisions beyond our control which are having a negative impact on our economy,” Savarin said.

The president of the St. Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association, Allen Chastanet, believes that the region’s support for Venezuela in its ongoing battle for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council over the U.S. choice of Guatemala may have contributed to Washington’s stance.

“You can also throw in our position with Cuba, although there are several other nations that share that position, but certainly [Venezuelan President Hugo] Chavez going to the U.N. and making derogatory remarks about the president of the USA has received the wrath of the American public,” Chastanet said.

He noted that nearly 90 percent of U.S. citizens do not have a passport and obtaining one is relatively expensive.

“It’s actually a nuisance factor which Americans are not compelled to undertake if they are traveling to Mexico or embarking on a cruise,” he said. “I think our industry is going to be substantially hurt.”

Caribbean countries have reason to be worried. A study of the potential economic impact of the WHTI on the Caribbean tourism industry by the World Travel and Tourism Council estimated a loss of 2.6 billion dollars in revenues as well as 188,300 jobs.

“There will be additional negative impacts created by this proposed initiative including the immediate impact on the choice of a Caribbean destination for those U.S. citizens who are not willing to pay the extra cost [for a passport], approaching 400 dollars for a family of four,” the study said, noting “this impact could be of a permanent nature where U.S. citizens without a passport can only select to visit U.S. territories in the Caribbean.”

The Caribbean Hotel Association wrote to U.S. Congressman Donald Payne, who has worked on issues related to the region, saying that while it understood the reasons for the WHTI, it was concerned that the “very short period of time allowed” for U.S. citizens to acquire passports “will cause a large diversion of traffic from the Caribbean and potentially catastrophic economic effects for the Caribbean region”.

In separate letters sent to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Michael Chertoff, secretary of Homeland Security, the CHA stressed that the Caribbean is “the most dependent region in the world on tourism”.

The United States accounts for 51 percent of all visitors, and represents the largest market share for the Caribbean.

“Tourism is the lifeline of the Caribbean, where the industry spans the depth and breadth of the national economies and represents as high as 97 percent of all direct and indirect jobs in the country,” said Odle.

The Jamaican government has already announced new initiatives to deal with the potential fallout. Tourism Minister Aloun Assamba said plans were being formulated to allow the U.S. Postal Service to establish sign-up stations to enable visitors to apply for passports.

“We propose to set up a number of ‘coffee stations’ in major commuter terminals in the U.S. where we will hand out coffee in Jamaican-branded cups and have onsite passport sign-up desks in collaboration with the U.S postal service,” she said.

Assamba said that Jamaican tourism officials are also proposing a programme called the “Jamaica First Time, First Night” offering credits to U.S. citizens who have passports with Jamaica as the first entry stamp.