
This report conducted by Euromonitor International provided Compete Caribbean Partnership Facility (CCPF) with the following deliverables:
- Segment and profile potential tourists from US profiles based on consumer research.
- Identify the products and services that can be offered, and prioritize the ones that will be assessed based on local capacity and market potential.
- Define the products and services for which the market demand will be assessed. This may involve assessing the importance of value-added activities such as Organic certification, Fairtrade, sourcing locally, etc.
- Collect data from the main customer segments through focus groups, surveys, and consultation with tour operators or other knowledgeable actors, and analyze the data to assess the size and characteristics of potential opportunities.
- Highlight any local constraints or key success factors in meeting demand sustainably.
- Provide specific and pragmatic recommendations to generate revenue for MSMEs and CBT projects in an inclusive and sustainable manner.
This initiative is a component of the Innovation for Tourism Expansion and Diversification project being implemented by the Compete Caribbean Partnership Facility (CCPF) with the objective to build the capacity of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) to diversify the regional product offering and enable more entrepreneurs to generate revenues from tourism. CCPF’s purpose is to drive inclusive and sustainable economic growth through greater competitiveness and innovation in the private sector. While growth has been recorded in the Caribbean tourism industry, rural or non-coastal communities are largely excluded from the revenues generated. For these communities to benefit economically, they must diversify their product offering, expand Community-Based Tourism (CBT) and take advantage of the paradigm shift in the industry.
The aims of this component by Compete Caribbean Partnership Facility (CCPF) are:
- Acquire knowledge regarding shifts and quantify market demand (volume of interest, type of activity, and willingness to pay) for Caribbean entrepreneurs to assess profitability.
- Utilize outcomes of research to educate micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) about the size and characteristics of market opportunities for a variety of products and services that can be offered locally through partnerships with Caribbean Tourism. Organization (CTO) and other business support organizations in the region facilitating business clusters.