Do governments fully understand the importance of tourism, the industry that now underwrites the regional economy?
This is the underlying theme in a sequence of reports produced over the last 18 months that illustrate the positive economic impact that the industry now has in areas such as employment, taxation, domestic agriculture and foreign exchange. The studies have been produced variously by the World Travel and Tourism Council, leading international firms of consultants, supported with European Union resources and actively encouraged by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) and the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA). They set out to demonstrate to government and regional institutions that the industry has become the predominant force in the regional economy. Taking the reports together, the following facts emerge: Caribbean tourism is expected to generate US$56.1 billion of economic activity and employ directly 15 per cent of the regional workforce in 2007; between now and 2017, earnings from tourism will grow by 3.3 per cent per annum. The Caribbean is the most economically dependent region
