Caribbean islands report major drops in tourism

[SusanNJ]

Its a shame, but I'll try and do my part and head back in October:

Thu Apr 23, 1:23 pm ET
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Five Caribbean countries are reporting double-digit drops in tourist visits as the global economic slowdown wreaks havoc on the region's top industry.
Statistics released this week by the Caribbean Tourism Organization show Anguilla taking the worst hit with a decline of 18.8 percent.
Visits are down in all 12 reporting nations and territories except Jamaica, Cuba and Mexico's Cancun region.
Tourist traffic fell 14.3 percent in Antigua, 13.7 percent in St. Lucia, 11.6 percent in Montserrat and 11.3 percent in the Cayman Islands.
The U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico cited drops of 6.1 and 4.7 percent.
The reporting periods vary, but all measure tourism in early 2009 compared to the same months in 2008.

[Diana2]

When we were on STJ in March we noticed that there were fewer people. We never had a problem parking and that's a pretty good indication of the reduced number of visitors.

It's a hardship for the people who depend on tourism for sure. But I'm doing my part to help and we head back in June (but hope that the easy parking situation remains).

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[canestfr]

In retrospec I'd be quite happy w/ those numbers for my business (garage door service). I'm off by about 40% since last November.

Just like my 401k...

[byado18]

We're doing our part to help -- taking a second trip this year!

[chrisn]

I am not surprised to hear this but with so many of us VIOL'ers going in June this year, I'm still probably going to be making the rounds looking for a place to park. Oh well, there is always SlimMan's!

[Boston Mike]

I don't know about everyone else, but there is a ton of us from the forum going in 3 weeks...

Maybe we should all call our trips "The 2009 V.I.O.L Stimulas Package"

[designbyroe]

I don't know about everyone else, but there is a ton of us from the forum going in 3 weeks...

Maybe we should all call our trips "The 2009 V.I.O.L Stimulas Package"

I like that Mike and you can all have F the economy koozies.........I would have said hats but I am not sure you would part with your Red Sox cap......

[hugo]

Don't know if it's just that more people waited for the rates to go down this year, but this is the most crowded late April I can remember...no parking anywhere this week!

[Pia]

I agree Hugo - I did a pick up for a villa last weekend and over the weekend there were 75 villa arrivals scheduled between all the companies just for Sat and Sun

Pia

[Boston Mike]

I don't know about everyone else, but there is a ton of us from the forum going in 3 weeks...

Maybe we should all call our trips "The 2009 V.I.O.L Stimulas Package"

I like that Mike and you can all have F the economy koozies.........I would have said hats but I am not sure you would part with your Red Sox cap......

***WARNING***DO NOT TOUCH THE RED SOX CAP***

[stjohnjulie]

Rate drop...that would make sense. After April 15th was the first time all season that I couldn't get a parking spot in Wharfside at 8am. Also have been seeing a lot more "right side" drivers in my lane in the past week or two. Glad you guys aren't willing to give up St. John!!!