The meeting noted that recessions in key source markets have significantly depressed consumer demand, and the November to April period, normally the high season for the region’s tourism industry, is now characterised by an abnormally low level of bookings.   Hotels across the region are also reporting poor responses to stepped-up marketing efforts, which have included discounts of as much as 60 per cent on room rates at a time when prices are usually at their highest.   

The poor performance of the industry has already resulted in a number of job losses in the hotel sector.  While the impact on ancillary services and other linked sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing is as yet unknown, there are concerns that it could be significant.   

Monday’s Tourism Ministers meeting was a precursor to a special Joint Meeting of the OECS Authority and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Monetary Council that will be held in St. Kitts and Nevis in January 2009.  Among the recommendations coming out of the Tourism Ministers meeting was the development of a paper, by the OECS Secretariat, that would be presented to the Special Meeting of the Heads of Government and Ministers of Finance that articulates the issues confronting the industry, identifies the steps being taken in the respective Member States to address the challenges, and suggests additional measures that could be employed to assist the region’s most vital foreign exchange earner to remain viable in the face of the most serious crisis it has yet had to confront.