While tourism is an industry notorious for its volatility, it remains a key economic development strategy of the majority of the islands located in the Caribbean. The challenges that are currently plaguing the Caribbean tourism industry also tamper with the development of the states themselves.
Beginning with climate change, it has existed within public perception for a number of years that global sea levels are on the rise. For instance, it has been stated the World Heritage Site in Willemstad, Curacao will “in a few years confront certain unenviable consequences if no measures are taken to adapt”.
Despite the efforts of the United Nations to spread a degree of awareness on the various issues of climate change including the aforementioned and others such as hurricane trends, periods of extreme dryness, and specific areas of immense rainfall, only a small handful of governments in the Caribbean are working to address this particular issue.
While the strategy of energy as an economic resource is not a typical trend found in the financial development of the majority of the islands, a number of countries existing in the Caribbean work to “extract precious minerals and fuel from nature for their economies”.
Unfortunately, the value of oil has dropped more than 50% in the past 2 years; a decline that directly affects the islands due to their significant internal consumption by the citizens.
Coinciding with oil prices is the dependence of the economies of the islands on foreign direct investments along with tourism revenue from Russia and Venezuela. A lower price of oil creates problems with budget-balancing for the economy, and negatively impacts the tourism industry as a result.
To make matters worse, China is one of the leading importers of oil in the entire world, and will soon present strong competition in the Central American oil market given their lower costs of labor.
Although the tourism sectors of the Caribbean are growing to compensate for the economic challenges, poverty continues to persist as an issue throughout the islands.