“It is no longer enough to depend on the lure of splendid beaches”
IDB report says “evolution” of tourism demand will be critical for Caribbean economic recovery
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Bahamas is the sixth most tourism-dependent economy in the world, according to the latest version of the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) Tourism Dependency Index.
According to an IDB Caribbean quarterly bulletin, The Bahamas, Barbados and Jamaica — dubbed “The Big Three” Caribbean tourism economies — are among the 15 most tourism-dependent economies in the world.
The Bahamas ranks sixth out of 166 other countries for which the index was calculated, with a score of 54.5 out of a possible 100 on the index.
Barbados is ranked 11th and Jamaica 13th. Aruba ranked number one.
The IDB report noted that 2020 saw a contraction of international visitor arrivals of 76 percent for The Bahamas, 69 percent for Jamaica and 67 percent for Barbados.
“Returning to 2019 annual levels of tourism arrivals and expenditures will be gradual,” the IDB noted.
“Data are limited, but tourism remained subdued in the first quarter of 2021 in most destinations, and far below the levels of the first quarter of 2020 — the last ‘near normal’ quarter.”
It further noted: “The evolution of demand for tourism services in key source markets obviously is critical to the prospects for a recovery of tourism in the Caribbean. With respect to source markets, for most countries in the region, the United States represents the most important source of tourism demand.”
For The Bahamas, roughly 82 percent of all visitors are from the US; 69 percent with respect to Jamaica; and 32 percent for Barbados, which has the United Kingdom as its most important tourism source market.
Olga Gomez, tourism lead specialist at the IDB, said: “Over the longer term, Caribbean countries must spur innovation and reinvigorate their tourism offerings.
“It is no longer enough to depend on the lure of splendid beaches. Tourism destinations need to invest in improving their competitiveness, aligning their tourism products to the broader local and global economic trends and exploring new and traditional emerging market segments such as global nomadism or nature-based tourism.”
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