Caribbean cruise industry stagnant, CTO stats reveal

(CNS Business): The cruise industry continued to grow internationally last year, but this was not felt in the Caribbean, where growth in the cruise sector was described as “inconsequential” by the Caribbean Tourism Organization, as it released its tourism statistics for 2011. Destinations in the Southern Caribbean were severely affected by the redeployment of several cruise vessels, particularly during the summer months, to routes outside of the Caribbean, the CTO said, and based on preliminary schedules, cruise arrivals to the Caribbean in 2012 are not likely rise by more than 2-3%. Stay-over tourism fared better and overall the Caribbean had an estimated 23.8 million tourists in 2011, a 3.3% rise over 2010, which saw just over 23 million stay-over visitors. Read more on CNS Business