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 Travel & Outdoors | October 2005 
Caribbean Bookings Buffeted By Storms
 Kitty Bean Yancey - USA TODAY
| | Christmas is booking up fast, travel providers say. And fall deals are out there. |
This year's near-record series of hurricanes — including Wilma, which prompted tourist evacuations in Cancun Thursday — is blowing away fall bookings to the Caribbean.
"Fall has been downhill since that first hurricane hit in July. It came so early, it warded off offseason travelers," says Andrea Conway, destination manager for Milwaukee-based Mark Travel Corp., which sends more than 100,000 people a year to the Caribbean via its Funjet Vacations, United Vacations and US Airways Vacations brands.
Airline fuel surcharges, the inflation-wracked U.S. economy and even guilt over taking a vacation as the USA reels from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita also put a damper on getaways, travel providers say.
Destinations where dollars go far — including Cancun and the Dominican Republic — have been luring many more visitors. Overall, U.S. tourism to the Caribbean was up 7% last year.
But islands slammed by 2004 hurricanes are in a slump. Just 59,164 U.S. tourists visited the Cayman Islands from January to June, down 59.8% from that period in 2004. U.S. visits to Grenada from January to May were down 31.2% from 2004.
The Caymans and Grenada are rebounding, though: 81% of Grand Cayman lodgings are projected to be ready in December. Most Grenada resorts will be back for winter, too.
Airlines such as Song, United and Spirit have added flights to the region. But tickets may cost more than last year because of fuel costs. American Airlines, for instance, spent $200 million more on fuel in the just-completed third quarter, spokesman Tim Smith says.
And though carriers and packagers have been running specials to certain islands, "there haven't been the huge, early-fall (airfare) sales we've seen in the past," says Richard Kahn, spokesman for the Caribbean Tourism Organization.
But Christmas is booking up fast, travel providers say. And fall deals are out there. This month, Funjet Vacations is selling discount packages to all-inclusive Sandals resorts starting at about $1,000 a person for three nights, including air. American Express Vacations has a Bahamas sale from about $1,000 a couple per weekend.
Meanwhile, well-heeled vacationers are booking the Caribbean, says Steve Gorga, president of American Express Vacations. "The traveler who has money is going to travel." |
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