What are the factors currently limiting the country’s tourism growth?

A person travelling to other countries for business purposes, recreations and leisure is simply known as tourist. The amount of tourist entering into the country is known as tourist flow and the number of percentage increase is known as tourism growth. Tourism growth varies from seasons to seasons as there are off seasons and also depending on those countries that one is visiting.
Like every countries, there are always factors limiting the country’s tourism growth like climate, political stability and personal preference.

1) Hurricane Season

In every country’s tourism board, their mission is to increase customers’ satisfaction, safety and comfort. Due to all these factors, the climate change plays a major impact on tourism growth. Beachside is one of the coastal features and attraction that significantly contributed to the physical, social and economic development of Antigua and Barbuda. Annually, during June to November it have been reported that six tropical storms, ten hurricanes and four tropical depressions occurred from the year between 1996 and 2001. Regardless of the land-situated miles away, whether depression, hurricanes or storms, they can affect wave motions in Antigua and Barbuda. Due to this fact, tourists have been constantly avoiding to travel to beachside at these periods of time. (unesco.org, 2003)

2) Crime Rates

Crimes like violence, raping, murdering, and assaulting in Antigua and Barbuda have been constantly rising and occurring. Antigua and Barbuda was known as a tropical country with peace. During the period from 2008 to early January 2011, it have been reported that five tourists have been murdered. (WorldNormads.com, 2010) Furthermore, ever since the incident of British couple being shot with a gun, it had highlighted the crime rates of the country. In the year of 2008, it have been reported in the news that with the population of 80,000 people, murder rate have been three times more as compared to New York city. (The telegraph, 2008)

3) Personal Preference

The role of personal preference refers to personal character. It consists of age, occupation, life cycle stage, economic situation and lifestyle consisting of individual’s pattern of living which can be expressed in difference in individual interests, opinions and activities that one would like to be engaged in. This data gives a brief analysis on trip purpose on which what a traveller is looking for during their trip, expectations and experiences.

4) Global Economical Crisis

As the global financial crisis that began since 2008, the Caribbean Basin has been decrease slightly in visitation due to high unemployment rate especially in major market such as the United States (Kindred, 2012). Due to the high pressure on the economy people prefer to stay at home rather than going overseas with tight budget.

Also as mentioned in previous section, two British tourist was shot dead and nearly half of them are not planning to come within next year and they would stay closer to their home (Simpson, 2009). Not only in Antigua, Barbuda, in Caribbean, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council, nearly 5 percent was dropped for global travel in 2009 (Math, 2012) in such struggling economic situation but also they are expecting the economy will bounce back as well as the tourism industry.

5) The Increase of Flight Taxes

According to BBC (2012), “The Caribbean is the most tourism-dependent region in the world – but a big drop in visitor numbers is being blamed on Britain’s air passenger duty”.