Collaborative effort needed to revive Caribbean tourism

Restoring confidence in travel to the Caribbean in the era of COVID-19 is a formidable challenge, but an effort should be made to contribute some of the best minds to share in an international collaborative strategy, to restore visitor confidence in Caribbean holiday making.

Former Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados and International Economic Consultant, Dr. DeLisle Worrell suggested the above, in his May Economic Letter, which he shared with the local media.

“What may be done to revive Caribbean tourism? Foreign exchange earnings are the glue that keeps Caribbean economies running. Everything that we buy in these islands is either imported or produced locally, with the use of imported materials, fuel and other inputs. In the absence of an adequate inflow of foreign exchange, all production and commerce slows down. The main source of foreign exchange in many Caribbean economies is tourism… if commerce and business begin to revive before tourism does, the economy will soon exhaust itself of foreign reserves, as well as whatever foreign exchange it is able to borrow from the IMF, the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank and elsewhere,” Dr.Worrell noted.

“It is the travellers who visit the Caribbean from North America and Europe and the airlines who bring them, that hold the key to reviving the economies of the Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica and other tourism dependent countries. Therefore, the first priority for our government, is collaboration on a strategy for resumption of Caribbean tourism. Caribbean governments should partner with the Caribbean Tourism Organisation, the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, major international airlines, major hotel interests, tour companies and other stakeholders, in discussing protocols for bringing the international travel standstill to an end,” Worrell advised.

“This is a forbidding task, which cannot wait until a vaccine or effective therapies for COVID-19 are found. The challenge is to raise health services for tourists in the Caribbean and other destinations, to a level comparable to those in the tourists’ home countries. The tourists must feel as safe on holiday as they are at home from a fatal attack of COVID-19 or any other infection. The World Health Organisation, the World Travel and Tourism Council and other international bodies are coordinating the efforts of health and travel specialists around the world, to define what arrangements for testing, tracking, quarantine, screening and registration of travellers have to be put in place. What should be obvious to everyone, is that international travel has to be resumed in the near term. Otherwise the very fabric of modern society is at risk,” he further commented.

Pointing out that a stop to tourism would mean the loss of hundreds of millions of livelihoods all over the world and it would render worthless trillions of dollars of investment in airplanes, airports, hotels, restaurants, places of entertainment and recreation and associated economic activity, the economic consultant suggested that hopefully what will happen, is that countries and tourism interests will devise protocols and facilities for tourism to resume, similar to the security protocols which are now in place for travel and large social events.

Adding that resourceful international companies and influential bodies are just as invested in overcoming this challenge as we in the Caribbean are, he suggested that, “We should therefore contribute our best minds to an international collaborative strategy, to fully restore visitor confidence in Caribbean holiday making. It is the only way to put Caribbean tourism destinations once more on a path to prosperity and better livelihoods for all who depend on the industry and its spin-offs”.