The CTO reports that there has been a substantial fall off in both arrivals and advance bookings for travel from the United States to the Caribbean this summer, when compared to the spring. A survey of the largest wholesalers confirms that bookings are well below last year and the telephones are not ringing.
The reasons are multiple ranging from the historical decline in overseas holidays during a presidential election year, the psychological impact of Hurricane Bertha, the stay-at-home effect of the Olympics, the wild ride of the stock market and new bearish forecasts by Wall Street gurus, low domestic airfare sales sparked by Southwest’s $25 per segment promotion, and consumer fears following the crash of TWA 800.
The slowdown is by no means limited to the Caribbean. The French Tourist Office says that summer arrivals from the USA and neighboring European countries are flat or down and current call volume to their U.S. information service is more than 20% less when compared to last year. On 25 July, American Airlines responded to this situation will full page advertisements in major markets headlined “American’s World Sale.”