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I REGION I AMERICAS & CARIBBEAN I<br />
Americas<br />
MAIN TRAVEL DESTINATIONS<br />
ANTIGUA AND<br />
BURBUDA<br />
ARGENTINA<br />
ARUBA<br />
BAHAMAS<br />
BARBAROS<br />
BELIZE<br />
BRAZIL<br />
BRITISH VIRGIN<br />
ISLANDS<br />
CANADA<br />
CAYMAN ISLANDS<br />
CHILE<br />
COLOMBIA<br />
COSTA RICA<br />
CUBA<br />
CURAÇAO<br />
DOMINICA<br />
DOMINICAN<br />
REPUBLIC<br />
ECUADOR<br />
EL SALVADOR<br />
GRENADA<br />
GUADELOUPE<br />
GUATEMALA<br />
GUYANA<br />
HAITI<br />
HONDURAS<br />
JAMAICA<br />
MARTINIQUE<br />
MEXICO<br />
NICARAGUA<br />
PANAMA<br />
PARAGUAY<br />
PERU<br />
PUERTO RICO<br />
SAINT LUCIA<br />
SAINT MARTIN<br />
SURINAME<br />
URUGUAY<br />
USA<br />
VENEZUELA<br />
API BEACH PUNTA CANA,<br />
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC<br />
© Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism<br />
AMERICAS & CARIBBEAN<br />
The impact of the pandemic<br />
softened by domestic tourism<br />
in the Americas<br />
The Americas saw a decline in arrivals last year, although some<br />
countries such as Mexico or the Dominican Republic kept a<br />
relatively open tourism policy. In large countries (Argentina,<br />
Brazil, Canada or the USA), the travel industry was supported<br />
by strong domestic tourism activity.<br />
According to the UNWTO's initial<br />
data for 2020, the Americas recorded<br />
a decline of 68.5% in 2020 tourist<br />
arrivals. The continent recorded<br />
69.03 million international tourist<br />
movements compared to 219.14<br />
million in 2019.<br />
Looking on a regional basis, Central<br />
and South America were the<br />
most affected last year as many<br />
countries shut down their borders<br />
to international travellers. Central<br />
America's total tourist arrivals<br />
declined by 74.3% while South<br />
America's total dropped by 74.1%.<br />
The Caribbean was the least affected<br />
with a drop of 66.8% in tourist<br />
movements, while North America's<br />
total arrivals were down by 67%.<br />
The figures were somewhat buoyed<br />
by Mexico, which kept its borders<br />
open. <strong>News</strong> circulated a lot over<br />
crowded resorts along the Mexican<br />
Riviera as many US and Canadian<br />
citizens spent their Thanksgiving<br />
and Christmas holidays there.<br />
International tourist arrivals were<br />
down in Mexico by 46.2% last year<br />
according to UNWTO.<br />
The USA's 2020 tourism season<br />
was saved by strong domestic<br />
activity. According to the US Travel<br />
Association, while international<br />
travel and business travel suffered<br />
the sharpest declines, with spending<br />
down by over 70%. Domestic travel<br />
spending was down by "only" 34%.<br />
Business travel spending was down<br />
by 70% compared to 27% for leisure<br />
travel. According to data released by<br />
the Bureau of Air Statistics covering<br />
the period between December 2019<br />
and November 2020, total passenger<br />
departures last year declined by<br />
54.5% to reach 421 million passenger<br />
movements.<br />
The strength of the US domestic<br />
market is visible in the number of<br />
road trips of over 50 miles. After<br />
reaching a pandemic low of -72%<br />
on the seven-day road trip index, the<br />
decline was just below 10% by the<br />
end of the year. Another indicator is<br />
arrivals in Puerto Rico and US Virgin<br />
Islands. Both count visitors from the<br />
USA as international travellers and<br />
showed a decline in 2020 of 53%<br />
and 36.5% respectively.<br />
In the Caribbean, Martinique also<br />
managed to contain the drop in<br />
tourist arrivals thanks to the French<br />
domestic market. Antigua and Cuba<br />
saw a decline inferior to 60% while<br />
the reopening of the Dominican<br />
Republic since September translated<br />
into a decline limited to 37% by the<br />
end of the year.<br />
While the pandemic remains strong<br />
in some South American countries,<br />
the zone will mostly benefit in <strong>2021</strong><br />
from domestic travel<br />
NEWS<br />
BRIEFS<br />
Canada experienced a<br />
drop in international travellers'<br />
numbers from 96.8 million<br />
travellers in 2019 to 25.9 million<br />
in 2020, down 73.2% from one<br />
year to another. Travellers from<br />
the United States declined by<br />
84.0% to 4.0 million. Regarding<br />
domestic tourism, spending was<br />
down 40.6% in the first three<br />
quarters of 2020<br />
The Dominican<br />
Republic is reopen to<br />
international tourism since<br />
last fall with a quarantine<br />
being implemented only for<br />
people testing positive to<br />
Covid-19. According to a study<br />
of ForwardKeys, data shows<br />
that the international tourism<br />
movements were down by less<br />
than 37% at the end of last<br />
year<br />
US hotels had a<br />
difficult year. According to data<br />
from consultant STR, hotel<br />
occupancy averaged just 44% in<br />
2020 (33% lower than in 2019),<br />
and Revenue per Available<br />
Room (RevPAR) was just $45<br />
(48% lower than in 2019). Both<br />
numbers indicate an all-time<br />
low in terms of both absolute<br />
numbers and declines<br />
12 <strong>ITB</strong> BERLIN NEWS • FRIDAY 12 TH MARCH <strong>2021</strong><br />
www.itb-berlin-news.com
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