This Department contributes to the development of a better informed tourism sector by expanding the range and improving the quality of the information available about Caribbean tourism.
The Department executes economic, social, environmental and market research relating to tourism in the Caribbean, maintains a comprehensive tourism information system to respond to the needs of all the public and private sector users of tourism data relating to the regional tourism industry and provides technical assistance to CTO member states, especially in improving their tourism statistical systems.
CTO Visitor Intelligence Database for Analytics (VIDA)
VIDA is a vast database of demographic and psychographic information about the population of specific zip codes or postal codes within a country (currently only the US market is covered). Essentially, it is a market segmentation tool that allows you to profile current and prospective visitors by zip code. Using the zip codes collected by your destination, VIDA can generate detailed graphical reports about the type of visitors you are attracting, including their lifestyle choices.
VIDA is a valuable tool for segmentation, targeting and positioning. It provides market intelligence to guide your marketing strategies and enables you to maximize your return on investment in marketing. By learning more about your target segment’s lifestyle, you can effectively match them to elements of your destination’s tourism product and more effectively target the persons you want to attract.
VIDA is available to CTO members. Please contact the Acting Dir. Research & Info. Tech, Sean Smith (smith@caribtourism.com) for more details.
For additional information about VIDA, please view the video on CTO’s YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/3Sas_SGFQx4.
CTO-TIMS (formerly MIST)
CTO-TIMS (CTO Tourism Information Management System) has been designed to capture and analyze tourism related data.
This new version is a fully functional online application which meets the requirements for timely and easily accessible data. It captures Arrivals and Departure information from E/D cards. The process of capturing this information involves the data entry (keyboard) of information captured on the ED cards. Some of the technological advancements in both hardware and software were employed to improve the functions, management and maintenance of the application. Business Reporting features include the new PowerBI which illustrates the data in a more visually and understandable way. The system is more flexible with respect to installation and management.
CTO-TIMS was first demonstrated in May 2015 and tested by select destinations since July 2015.
CTO-TIMS also features:
- United Nations Standard Country or Area Codes
- Updated US and Canadian Zip codes
- Smoother Installation and database management
CTO-TIMS is hosted on a secured server at the CTO headquarters in Barbados and made accessible to authorized users identified by destination for the purposes of entering data and generating reports.
Can CTO member countries access CTO-TIMS?
Please contact Sharon Coward, IT Interim Administrator at CTO. Call 246-427-5242 or email scoward at caribtourism dot com.
Former MIST group loginCTO-TSAFT
TSAFT (Tourism Satellite Account Facilitation Tool) is a new initiative developed by the CTO that helps tourism policy makers measure the impact of tourism on the economy. It’s an accurate, efficient and well- coordinated web-based statistical system, the first of its kind in the Caribbean.
What is a TSA?
The Tourism Satellite Account provides a picture of the role tourism plays in a country, with information on the changing levels and impact of tourism activity. It presents information on tourism’s contribution to the country’s economy in terms of expenditure and employment.
What is CTO-TSAFT?
It is the tool developed by the CTO in conjunction with funding from the IDB to help strengthen the capacities of the governments of the Caribbean to assess the impact of tourism on their economies through accurate and timely provision of information.
How does it work?
Countries collect data from the ED cards which are entered into the tool to generate various types of reports.
Benefits
A standardized and shared knowledge base on basic tourism statistics which will allow for more strategic and accurate analysis of the contribution of tourism in the economy. This will assist governments in their policy making efforts for the sector.
Can CTO member countries use TSAFT?
Please contact the Acting Director of Research & IT, Sean Smith. Call 246-427-5242 or email ssmith at caribtourism dot com.
History
In March 2011 the agreement between CTO and the IDB was signed providing limited funding to assist with the development of TSAs in five selected countries.
TSA groupCTO Visitor Survey and Operations Manual
Tourism is an important industry with considerable potential for growth and development. Its major benefit is that of foreign exchange and employment generation. In order to maximize these benefits, information about the industry must be available for planning and decision-making. The cruise passenger survey provides some of this information by cruise visitors when they are about to leave the country. The survey is designed to determine why visitors chose the country as their destination, if they spent any money, how much, what they spent that money on and whether the visit was up to their expectations.