The Caribbean is the least successful region in the world in terms of revenue generated per cruise visitor.
Despite being the top destination region for cruise vacations, the Caribbean has failed to fully capitalize of this, says a World Bank official.
Lilia Burunciuc, World Bank director for the Caribbean says this current tourism model is not sustainable. Island nations need to work closer together to improve overall outcomes, she said.
“The Caribbean is the largest region for cruise ship tourism, but gets the least per passenger. This is because there is a race to the bottom, again, because the region is not acting as a region.”
Caribbean Environmental Tax Proposed
“We know that one cruise ship passenger brings 24 times less than one nature-based tourist. Why not introduce a Caribbean environmental tax for the Caribbean Sea which is the same for all countries and which all cruise ships will have to pay?”
Burunciuc presented to delegates as a keynote speaker at the 2nd Wider Caribbean Regional Risk Conference earlier this month. She said World Bank research shows that cruise ship passengers generally support a regional tax. Cruise guests are willing to pay a little more for protecting the environment, as long as revenues are used transparently for this purpose, she says.
She added: “For the last 20 years, the Caribbean region has been the slowest growing region in the world, even compared to other small states. The model of tourism that exists in the Caribbean has probably reached its limit and more new, different types of tourism are taking off.”
More Regional Collaboration Between Nations Is Needed
Burunciuc emphasized that cruise tourism will remain a key economic driver for the Caribbean “but countries can actually get together and try to negotiate better results for themselves from cruise ship tourism.”
