Published on : Thursday, December 13, 2018
In spite of this, and the current extensive recognition of the centrality of tourism to the Caribbean economy, development institutions keeps on struggling to find data on which to take on the analysis necessary to guide economic policy.
This is mainly due to the tools the region utilizes to measure its tourism performances which are still rudimentary and unreliable. So, much so that decisions in terms of pricing, taxation, competitiveness, and the possible effect that industry related choices may have on national economic performance, are all too often based on flimsy data.
The effect is that without any proof to the contrary, politicians and institutions are used to equating growth in visitor arrival number with economic growth; a belief that visitors will be fine with any level of taxation; that airlines are in some way accountable for the high cost of a Caribbean vacation; and that developing more hotel rooms routinely increases the revenues governments receive.
Tags: caribbean tourism