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Tourism is one of the Caribbean's major economic sectors, with 25 million visitors contributing $49 billion towards the area's gross domestic product in 2013, which represented 14% of its total GDP. [1] It is often described as, "the most tourism-dependent region in the world".
The first hotel was built on the island of Nevis in 1778 and brought wealthy visitors, such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In the 19th century, resort hotels were also built on The Bahamas, Jamaica and Barbados to support an increasing tourist trade. Tourism increased dramatically when airplanes transported tourists to the region. This increased the numbers of people that were able to afford to vacation on the islands, but required costly infrastructure development.
The early seaside resorts were developed primarily for curative benefits of bathing [lower-alpha 1] in the sea and breathing the warm, ozone-laden air. [3] Lawrence Washington (1718–1752) and his younger half-brother George Washington stayed at the Bush Hill House in Barbados in 1751 for two months to treat Lawrence's tuberculosis. According to an anthropologist, Barbados was referred to as the "sanatorium of the West Indies" in guidebooks because of its fresh water, sea air, and absence of malaria. [3]
The Bath Hotel and the Spring House was created of stone along Bath Stream in 1778 on the island of Nevis. [4] It was the first official hotel to open in the Caribbean. [5] The mineral hot springs and the hotel attracted visitors such as Prince William Henry, Lord Nelson and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. [4] The Royal Victorian Hotel in the Bahamas opened in 1861, Crane Beach in Barbados opened in 1887, and the Jamaican Titchfield Hotel was another early one. [6] By 1900, eleven or more steamships had regular routes to Barbados. In the 19th century, wealthy European tourists traveled across the Atlantic during the winter months for weeks or months at a time. [3] [5] The Caribbean islands were colonies of European countries, and early tourists went to their nation's colonies. Barbados and Jamaica were visited by the English, Curaçao by the Dutch, and Martinique by the French. [7] American tourists traveled to The Bahamas and Cuba. [3]
In the 1920s, tourists visited the Caribbean for pleasurable, sun-bathing vacations. Sun exposure was considered healthy at that time and tans were a symbol of "spontaneity and sensuality" among the wealthy. [8] Before World War II, more than 100,000 tourists visited the region a year. [9]
Tourism became an economically important industry as Caribbean bananas, sugar, and bauxite were no longer competitively priced with the advent of free-trade policies. [4] [10] Encouraged by the United Nations and World Bank, many governments in the Caribbean encouraged tourism beginning in the 1950s to boost their third-world economies. [11] The Caribbean Tourist Association was founded in 1951. [12] Tax incentives encouraged foreign development of hotels and infrastructure, cultivated by newly formed tourism ministries. [10]
Regular non-stop international airplane flights in the 1960s made vacations to the Caribbean more affordable and increased the number of visitors. [6] Visitors from Europe could travel there in eight hours, whereas it used to take three weeks by ship. [8] After World War II, the expanding middle class had more time and money for vacations and travel agencies sold affordable vacation packages to the Caribbean. Friendly native people, a warm climate, very few pests or disease, and natural beauty made it an attractive holiday option. In addition, people could also select islands based upon the language spoken: Spanish, French, Dutch or English. [8] In 1959, 1.3 million people vacationed in the Caribbean, and by 1965 the number of visitors had risen to nearly 4 million per year. [9]
Multinational hotel chains and tour operators began operating. [6] Tourism became a significant industry by 1985 when 10 million people vacationed on the islands. [9] Islands that had relied on oil production for their revenue, like Trinidad and Tobago, and Aruba, did not vigorously promote tourism until revenues from oil declined in the 1990s. [9] In 2007, the number of annual tourists rose to 17 million people. [9]
Tourism is one of the region's major economic sectors, with 25 million visitors contributing $49 billion towards the area's gross domestic product in 2013, which represented 14% of its total GDP. This puts the region twelfth in the world in terms of tourism's absolute contribution to GDP, but first as a proportion of GDP. In terms of employment, 11.3% of the region's jobs depend on tourism either directly or indirectly. [1] It is often described as "the most tourism-dependent region in the world". [13] [14] [15]
Caribbean islands now depend on tourism for their economy, it being referred to as "the engine of their growth". [16] Tourism is a huge contributor to the economies of all Caribbean countries and the biggest contributor to many of them such as Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas and the Virgin Islands.[ citation needed ] It provides a steady revenue stream, with temporary blips due to hurricanes or recessions in the Western world [17] and supports local farming, fishing, and retail industries. [18] Barbados, for instance, has moved from a primarily agricultural economy to a service-based economy that supports tourism. By 2006, tourism brought in ten times more to the Barbados economy than sugar cane production, $167 million versus $14.5 billion. [19]
Besides hotels and restaurants, services to tourism have required additional infrastructure, including: airports, roads, sewage treatment plants, landfills, electricity supply and telephones. [20]
Much of the profit from tourism is earned by corporations outside of the Caribbean since, "two-thirds of the hotel rooms in the region are foreign owned, and the tour companies who arrange visitor's activities are often foreign owned". [20] The more luxurious the accommodations, the more likely that profits are made by foreign firms. Further, many resorts are all-inclusive, and vacationers of these resorts rarely eat out at locally owned restaurants, rent water sports gear from local entrepreneurs, or arrange island tours with local taxis. [21] Most of the food served at hotels is imported, locally grown fruit, such as breadfruit, bananas, mangos, and citrus is rarely served. Only about 30% of money spent by foreign visitors remains in the Caribbean, the rest is retained by overseas firms. [21]
Tourism development has driven up the cost of food and land, land which may be purchased for hotel, marina, and other tourist facility development by companies able to afford the price. [22] If they have a home, they may be pushed out of their residence due to the high cost of living or hotel construction. [22]
Today some West Indians are seeing features of the colonial situation resurrected by tourism. Locals are denied access to their own beaches, the best jobs go to non-nationals or those with the lightest skin, and humble service roles and low-wage jobs predominate in the tourism sector.
— George Gmelch, 2012 [23]
Tourist attraction of the region are those generally associated with a maritime tropical climate: Scuba diving and snorkeling on coral reefs, cruises, sailing, and game fishing at sea. On land; golf, botanical gardens, parks, limestone caves, wildlife reserves, hiking, cycling and horseback riding. Cultural attractions include Carnival, steel bands, reggae and cricket. Due to the dispersal of the islands, helicopter or aeroplane tours are popular. Specific to this tropical region are tours of historic colonial plantation houses, sugar mills and rum distilleries. [24] Caribbean cuisine is a fusion of cooking styles, goat stew being the signature dish of several islands. Marijuana has developed in importance since the 19th century, becoming a significant part of Jamaican culture. [25]
A large number of the visitors are honeymooners or people who come to the islands for a destination wedding. [11] Tour operators use oblique references to sex tourism to attract customers. [26]
The recent studies shows that some Caribbean islands, like Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico has a huge potential for mountaineering activity, however, it is not utilized properly. [27]
Some historians and cultural anthropologists say the changes to the islands to support tourism have negatively impacted the indigenous cultures of the Caribbean. [12] David Bennett's article, "Global tourism and Caribbean culture" offers examples in which tourism and globalization create an inauthentic culture that caters more to the tourists than the indigenous heritage. This is further morphed by mass media influences, such as television and the Internet. [12] Trinidad's traditional carnival has become an inauthentic commercialized event used to lure tourists for economic gain. [28] Historically, the festival emphasized a mythological basis, demonstrating the holy trinity and the nation's unity. According to Dennis Merrill, author of "Negotiating Cold War Paradise: U.S. Tourism, Economic Planning, and Cultural Modernity in Twentieth-Century Puerto Rico", the tourism industry in the Caribbean is viewed by its critics as causing host countries to practice economic subservience to the visitors of the islands. He highlights the U.S. attempt in the 1930s to make Puerto Rico an island destination for tourists to bring in a new source of revenue to the U.S. and help lift it out of economic depression. Travel guides and advertisements used at the time suggested that the people of Puerto Rico lived in poverty and wanted a chance to serve travelers from the United States. [29]
The creation of the Caribe Hilton Hotel in San Juan in 1949 represented a partnership between the Puerto Rican government and U.S business. Americans viewed the creation of the hotel as a symbol of their power to create material progress. A majority of Puerto Rican citizens did not approve of the decision to build the hotel. They believed that the public funds would have better suited the island inhabitants if they were invested in improving education and social welfare. San Juan's fire chief of the time disapproved the government's decision to "degrade itself by buying tourists." Articles published by El Mundo in 1952 saw the American tourists as selfish people who did not care about the island and ones who will in the future convince the Puerto Rican people to serve them. In the 1950s, Old San Juan was restored by the Puerto Rican government in order to attract American visitors interested in the history of the island. [29]
The influx of tourists in the Caribbean has caused environmental damage to both the marine and land ecosystems of the region. The recent increase in cruise ship popularity has led to pollution of coastal waters through the emission of oil, sewage and lubricants. One estimate attributed nearly 80% of all global marine pollution to cruise ships. [30] Additionally, cruise ships anchoring in reef environments can cause damage the corals. In the water around George Town, Cayman Islands, cruise ship anchors were responsible for the damage of 300 acres of reef habitat. Channel dredging in shallow waters to allow for easy passage of large ships disturbs the water and also damage corals and sea grasses. Cruise ships and other watercraft also contribute to the introduction of invasive species by carrying them from one body of water to another. Boat propellers also harm or kill slow moving animals such as sea turtles that live near the water surface. [30]
Heavy foot traffic in beach ecosystems also degrades their natural habitats. Tourists displace rocks, logs and other parts of beach environments that serve as homes for wildlife. Walking on tropical shores can cause serious damage to corals that inhabit the area. Fragile dune environments and the vegetation that inhabit them are damaged due to human foot traffic. The cleaning of natural shore debris to make beaches more appealing for tourists is also an environmental concern. In addition to enhancing the water quality and adding nutrients, this debris provides a home for invertebrates and also a food source for predators of the invertebrates. [30]
Tourist resorts in the Caribbean consume much more water than residential areas do, with many resorts consuming as much as five to ten times more water than residential areas. [30] Hotels that pump untreated sewage into the ocean threaten coral populations that would suffocate in the presence of seaweed growth caused by the sewage. [31] The use of coastal areas to produce hotels has eliminated much of the beach and wetland environments in the region. This not only alters the natural environment but also displaces the plants and animals that live there and threatens ecological balances. [31]
The economy of the Bahamas is dependent upon tourism and offshore banking. The Bahamas is the richest country in the West Indies and is ranked 14th in North America for nominal GDP. It is a stable, developing nation in the Lucayan Archipelago, with a population of 391,232 (2016). Steady growth in tourism receipts and a boom in construction of new hotels, resorts, and residences had led to solid GDP growth for many years. The slowdown in the Economy of the United States and the September 11 attacks held back growth in these sectors from 2001 to 2003.
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba to Puerto Rico, the Lesser Antilles to the east from the Virgin Islands to Trinidad and Tobago, South America to the south from the Venezuelan coastline to the Colombian coastline, and Central America and the Yucatán Peninsula to the west from Panama to Mexico. The geopolitical region centered around the Caribbean Sea, including the numerous islands of the West Indies and adjacent coastal areas in the mainland of the Americas, is known as the Caribbean.
The history of the Caribbean reveals the region's significant role in the colonial struggles of the European powers since the 15th century. In the modern era, it remains strategically and economically important. In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean and claimed the region for Spain. The following year, the first Spanish settlements were established in the Caribbean. Although the Spanish conquests of the Aztec empire and the Inca empire in the early sixteenth century made Mexico and Peru more desirable places for Spanish exploration and settlement, the Caribbean remained strategically important.
The economy of Saint Kitts and Nevis has traditionally depended on the growing and processing of sugar cane; decreasing world prices have hurt the industry in recent years. Tourism, export-oriented manufacturing, and offshore banking activity have assumed larger roles in Saint Kitts and Nevis. Most food is imported. The government has undertaken a program designed to revitalize the faltering sugar sector. It is also working to improve revenue collection in order to better fund social programs. In 1997, some leaders in Nevis were urging separation from Saint Kitts on the basis that Nevis was paying far more in taxes than it was receiving in government services, but the vote on secession failed in August 1998. In late September 1998, Hurricane Georges caused approximately $445 million in damages and limited GDP growth for the year.
Since the island country's independence in 1966, the economy of Barbados has been transformed from a low-income economy dependent upon sugar production into a high-income economy based on tourism and the offshore sector. Barbados went into a deep recession in the 1990s after 3 years of steady decline brought on by fundamental macroeconomic imbalances. After a painful re-adjustment process, the economy began to grow again in 1993. Growth rates have averaged between 3%–5% since then. The country's three main economic drivers are: tourism, the international business sector, and foreign direct-investment. These are supported in part by Barbados operating as a service-driven economy and an international business centre.
Tourism in Puerto Rico attracts millions of visitors each year, with more than 5.1 million passengers arriving at the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in 2022, a 6.5% increase from 2021, the main point of arrival into the island of Puerto Rico. With a $8.9 billion revenue in 2022, tourism has been a very important source of revenue for Puerto Rico for a number of decades given its favorable warm climate, beach destinations and its diversity of natural wonders, cultural and historical sites, festivals, concerts and sporting events. As Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory of the United States, U.S. citizens do not need a passport to enter Puerto Rico, and the ease of travel attracts many tourists from the mainland U.S. each year.
New Providence is the most populous island in The Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. On the eastern side of the island is the national capital city of Nassau; it had a population of 246,329 at the 2010 Census, and a population of 292,522 at the 2022 census. Nearly three quarters of The Bahamas's population lives in New Providence.
Grand Bahama is the northernmost of the islands of The Bahamas, with the town of West End located 56 nautical miles east of Palm Beach, Florida. It is the third largest island in The Bahamas island chain of approximately 700 islands and 2,400 cays. The island is roughly 530 square miles (1,400 km2) in area and approximately 153 kilometres long west to east and 24 kilometres at its widest point north to south. Administratively, the island consists of the Freeport Bonded Area and the districts of East Grand Bahama and West Grand Bahama. Nearly half of the homes on the island were damaged or destroyed in early September 2019 by Hurricane Dorian.
Nusa Dua is a resort area built in the 1970s in the southern part of Bali, Indonesia. Known as an enclave of large five-star resorts, it covers 350 hectares of land and encloses more than 20 resorts. It is located 22 kilometers from Denpasar, the provincial capital of Bali, and is administered as part of Benoa subdistrict (kelurahan) in South Kuta, Badung Regency. Nusa Dua means two islands, because there are two islands in the bay of the Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) area. On the southern side lies Peninsula Island, and on the northern side lies Nusa Dharma Island, which is smaller but shadier, and which contains the Pura/Temple Nusa Dharma.
A resort town, resort city or resort destination is an urban area where tourism or vacationing is the primary component of the local culture and economy. A typical resort town has one or more actual resorts in the surrounding area. Sometimes the term resort town is used simply for a locale popular among tourists. One task force in British Columbia used the definition of an incorporated or unincorporated contiguous area where the ratio of transient rooms, measured in bed units, is greater than 60% of the permanent population.
Future Centre Trust (FCT), also known previously as Counterpart Caribbean, is an environmental organization based on the Caribbean island of Barbados. FCT aims to work with wider organizations such as UNCED to concentrate on economic and tourist activity in Barbados that is based on sustainable development for future generations on the island, the region and the wider world. As of September 2009, the organisation is chaired by Mrs Vivian-Anne Gittens and pays specific attention to the education of children in the environment of Barbados.
The Port of Bridgetown, is a seaport in Bridgetown on the southwest coast of Barbados. Situated at the North-Western end of Carlisle Bay, the harbour handles all of the country's international bulk ship-based trade and commerce. In addition to international-shipping the Deep Water Harbour is the port of entry for southern-Caribbean cruise ships. The port is one of three designated ports of entry in Barbados, along with the privately owned Port Saint Charles marina and the Sir Grantley Adams International Airport. The port's time zone is GMT −4, and it handles roughly 700,000 cruise passengers and 900,000 tonnes of containerised cargo per year.
The Caribbean Tourism Organization's main objective is the development of sustainable tourism for the economic and social benefit of Caribbean people.
The Caribbean, is a subregion in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the North Atlantic Ocean. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America to the west, and South America to the south, it comprises numerous islands, cays, islets, reefs, and banks. It includes the Lucayan Archipelago, Greater Antilles, and Lesser Antilles of the West Indies; the Quintana Roo islands and Belizean islands of the Yucatán Peninsula; and the Bay Islands, Miskito Cays, Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia, and Santa Catalina, and Corn Islands of Central America. It also includes the coastal areas on the continental mainland of the Americas bordering the region from the Yucatán Peninsula in North America through Central America to the Guianas in South America.
Tourism in Dominica consists mostly of hiking in the rain forest and visiting cruise ships.
Tourism in Haiti is an industry that generated just under a million arrivals in 2012, and is typically one of the main sources of revenue for the nation. With its favorable climate, second-longest coastline of beaches, and most mountainous ranges in the Caribbean, waterfalls, caves, colonial architecture and distinct cultural history, Haiti has had its history as an attractive destination for tourists. However, unstable governments have long contested its history and the country's economic development throughout the 20th century.
Tourism in the Dominican Republic is an important sector of the country's economy. More than 10 million tourists visited the Dominican Republic in 2023, making it the most popular tourist destination in the Caribbean and putting it in the top 5 overall in the Americas. The industry accounts for 11.6% of the nation's GDP and is a particularly important source of revenue in coastal areas of the country. The nation's tropical climate, white sand beaches, diverse mountainous landscape and colonial history attracts visitors from around the world. In 2022, the nation's tourism was named the best-performing nation post-pandemic with over 5% visitors more in comparison to pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
Staniel Cay is an island located in The Exuma Cays, a district of The Bahamas.
The economy in the Caribbean region is highly dependent on its tourism industry; in 2013, this industry constituted 14% of their total GDP. This region is largely appealing for the sun, sand, and sea scene. Despite the fact that tourism is very reliant on the natural environment of the region, it has negative environmental impacts. These impacts include marine pollution and degradation, as well as a high demand for water and energy resources. In particular, the degradation of coral reefs has a large impact on the environment of the Caribbean. Environmental damage affects the tourism industry; therefore, the tourism sector, along with the public sector, makes efforts to protect the environment for economic and ethical reasons. Although these efforts are not always effective, there are continuous efforts for improvement.
Climate changein the Caribbean poses major risks to the islands in the Caribbean. The main environmental changes expected to affect the Caribbean are a rise in sea level, stronger hurricanes, longer dry seasons and shorter wet seasons. As a result, climate change is expected to lead to changes in the economy, environment and population of the Caribbean. Temperature rise of 2°C above preindustrial levels can increase the likelihood of extreme hurricane rainfall by four to five times in the Bahamas and three times in Cuba and the Dominican Republic. A rise in sea level could impact coastal communities of the Caribbean if they are less than 3 metres (10 ft) above the sea. In Latin America and the Caribbean, it is expected that 29–32 million people may be affected by the sea level rise because they live below this threshold. The Bahamas is expected to be the most affected because at least 80% of the total land is below 10 meters elevation.
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