Caribbean L 30 ife, May 1-7, 2020
VARADERO, Cuba/
KINGSTON (Reuters) –
No one is swimming in
the turquoise Caribbean
waters of Cuba’s Varadero
beach resort, nor lounging
on its white, palm-fringed
beaches. Its hundreds of
hotels, shops and restaurants
stand empty and
eerily quiet.
The nearby airport,
the lifeblood of Varadero’s
economy, closed after Cuba
shut its borders two weeks
ago to protect against the
spread of the new coronavirus.
Now, undisturbed
by tourists, lizards scamper
around the grounds of
the luxurious hotels, on
the hunt.
Across the Caribbean,
similar scenes of desolation
are playing out as the
most tourism-dependent
region in the world reels
from a pandemic that has
shut borders, grounded
airlines, berthed cruise
ships and sent much of
the planet into isolation
since mid-March.
From the historic
towns of the Dominican
Republic to the isolated
coves of Tobago, tourism
employs an estimated
2.5 million people and
generates – directly and
indirectly – nearly onethird
of the region’s economic
output, according
to the Caribbean Tourism
Organization.
As a result, there are
few places where the economic
impact of the pandemic
may be as immediate
as the archipelago’s
26 small island states
and dependencies, many
of them already heavily
indebted.
“Almost all my family,
all my cousins, work in
tourism,” said Maria Elisa
Torres, who rents rooms
in her home in Santa
Marta near Varadero.
“My cousin is a shopkeeper.
She is out of a
job. Her husband works in
rent-a-car (company). He
is out of job. My brother
works with tourists on the
beach and is also out of
job.”
So far, the Caribbean
region of 45 million people
has reported only
about 7,000 coronavirus
cases and 300 deaths, the
majority in the Dominican
Republic.
Yet millions have
already lost their jobs or
revenues due to the outbreak.
The World Tourism
Organization (UNWTO),
a U.N. body dedicated to
promoting the industry,
last month forecast a 20%
to 30% plunge in arrivals
this year.
The Caribbean Development
Bank went further,
forecasting a 50%
slump if restrictions continue
until September and
a 100% fall if the policies
stay in place all year. The
International Monetary
Fund (IMF) predicts the
eastern Caribbean, heavily
dependent on cruise lines,
will be among the hardest
hit.
Carnival Corp <CCL.
N> said this week it was
canceling all sailings until
at least June 26, while
Royal Caribbean Cruises
<RCL.N> suspended trips
until June 11 to ensure the
safety of guests and crew.
In Barbados, the yellow
cranes that line the port of
capital Bridgetown stand
starkly against a hazy blue
sky amid the absence of
any cruise ships. Usually
six or seven ships would be
docked here but the major
lines have canceled their
trips well into the peak
summer season, said Sheldon
Layne, the manager of
terminal operations.
‘A SERIES OF
UNKNOWNS’
Just a few months ago,
the Caribbean Tourism
Organization – the local
branch of the UNWTO –
was in high spirits, citing
a robust recovery for the
region after many islands
were pummeled by hurricanes
Irma and Maria
in 2017.
Now, the organization’s
staff is working from
home under a lockdown
and scrambling to keep
up with an unprecedented
drop to nearly zero visitors.
Neil Walters, the Caribbean
Tourism Organization’s
acting secretary
general, said businesses
are focusing on how to
integrate new health protocols
into travel to allow
tourism to resume when
restrictions gradually
ease.
“We are really in a series
of unknowns, searching to
find what very well could
become the new way that
tourism could operate,”
Jamaican Tourism Minister
Edmund Bartlett told
Reuters.
In the meantime,
authorities are trying to
keep their tourism industries
afloat and their people
safe from the pandemic.
A dolphin interacts with its trainer Carlos Padron
in Varadero, Cuba, April 10, 2020. REUTERS/
Alexandre Meneghini
Empty resorts spell long crisis
for Caribbean as coronavirus hits