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José Carlos de Santiago

Over the past 19 years the Excelencias Publishing Group has attended the World Travel Market (WTM), the travel show with the highest turnout of Caribbean countries, except for Caribbean Marketplace, the event organized by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO).
The WTM, held in London, is second or third in the world ranking of travel shows, a position shared with FITUR, which takes place in Madrid, Spain, and stands out as the leading event in Latin America and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean.
Over the years, the people behind Fitur have tried to show the CTO and the small Caribbean islands the benefits of attending in this event, a point that hasn’t been understood by this organization’s English-speaking executives.
The CTO spent years with its eyes solely focused on the U.S. as a natural market, as well as the United Kingdom. They weren’t paying much attention to Spanish-speaking countries as their competitors or to Latin American tourism outbound markets (leading regions that always attend Fitur).
Everything has changed now. The imminent opening of the U.S. market to Cuba, the excellent conditions in the Dominican Republic with marinas, golf courses, infrastructures, and the objective of reeling in 10 million tourists, have shaken up the CTO’s structures. The presence of these countries is being presently encouraged, since they are undisputable driving forces behind brand Caribbean and they haven’t been supported by the CTO.
For at least 19 years, Excelencias Turísticas del Caribe magazine and www.caribbeannewsdigital.com newsletter have spoken out on this situation. They have championed the use of the Spanish language in communications and as the official language of the CTO, the position of a region that needs MULTIDESTINATION travel among countries.
In June 1997, in the first editor’s note of Excelencias Turísticas del Caribe magazine, we wrote about this travel modality. The multidestination term has presently gained momentum, but not in a natural way.
There are countries like Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic, whose guestroom figures outpace the numbers of all of the Caribbean islands combined, and they still have more development possibilities than the rest of Caribbean countries.
Moreover, they not only receive tourists from only one market -the United States plays a leading role due to its proximity- but they are visited by travelers from around the world.
That’s the reason why it’s crucial to open the mind of these executives. We have to show them that there is strength in numbers. The US opening to Cuba is not a threat; quite on the contrary, it is going to position brand Caribbean at the highest level of demand from that country to the region, thus joining words Caribbean and Cuba as a growth tandem if compared to other regions.
On the other hand, the positioning of the Dominican Republic and Cuba in Europe and their nonstop fusion with brand Caribbean, focused on these two countries, could help smaller nations that get hay fever every time the U.S. travel market sneezes.
If the offering and advertising of these Caribbean countries is properly developed in Europe, by taking advantage of the space to be used by the U.S. market in those two countries and, therefore, the decrease of its capacity to pay heed to the rest of the islands, a gap will open and it’s only going to be bridged if the other countries leave their past vision behind.
It’s important to implement a joint action policy with both the public and private sectors to develop multidestination among the countries of the region, the creation of a new air hub, where such companies as PAWA Dominicana, JetBlue or American Airlines have already launched strategies to put the Caribbean islands together, and without forgetting Colombia, Panama and Mexico, which will be contributing to this development.
From Excelencias Magazines (www.revistasexcelencias.com) and  www.caribbeannewsdigital.com e-newsletter, we hope that in 2017, when the Excelencias Group will celebrate its 20th anniversary of devotion and hard work for this region, as the only media organization in the world that posts in eight languages and attends over 60 travel fairs and events every year, all of the countries will unite and make the most of this opportunity.
We’re looking forward to seeing the United States put an end to the restrictions and the embargo against Cuba, so there will be equal opportunities and free movement of tourists to this gorgeous paradise called the Caribbean.
The Excelencias Group has always believed and believes in the Caribbean, we believe in multidestination.