By: Staff Writer
November 16, 2021
The total shutdown of tourism during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic was a surreal moment for Caribbean destinations considering that over 50 percent of their GDP depended on the industry. However, what was more stark was the fact that when tourism totally shut down for more than a several months, some destinations saw just how much of an impact tourism had on their economies.
While most of us can see the direct impact of tourism, very few of us understand and appreciate the ancillary businesses that spin off of tourism. For some destinations, it goes beyond the taxi’s and souvenirs, but also to the mom and pop stores that are in a district where a lot of people in the tourism industry happen to live. Or, we see the national spending cut in half and people stop going to the movies, restaurants and bars and having that extra money to spend.
With some it even impacted the level of foreign reserves which then created a need to stop the outflow of US currency from out of the countries, causing central banks to put in place moratoriums on repatriating foreign capital and other earnings through the various commercial banks.
Roderick Cherry, Chief Executive Officer of Invest St Lucia, speaking at the Caribbean Hotel Investment Conference & Operations Summit (CHICOS), said on panel: “What COVID-19 told us initially, was the state of the dependence of the St Lucian economy, on tourism.
“We say 60 percent to 70 percent of GDP is tourism related, but with for two months during the lockdown, we were able to see what the true impact was. So, it was not only in tourism or the sectors that you would be expected to be dependent, there were other sectors as well.”
The COVID-19 fallout caused St Lucia to look at other sectors that had nothing to do with tourism, but more importantly they wanted to find ways to “build more linkages with the other sectors. I think that is that is a big thing to get more benefit from our main industry,” said Mr Cherry.
He continued, “The other big thing that came out of COVID-19, for us is the growth BPO. That sector grew during COVID-19, perhaps by up to 30 percent, in that in that period of time. So that was positive.
“It showed us that there is opportunities in sectors in addition to tourism and I think I think that’s the main learning that that we got. One, increasing the linkages of data, the sectors of the economy; two, diversification, particularly focus on food security, and the fact that there are other industries that have a lot of potential that we need to put some focus on.”
Angela Musgrove, interim CEO of Invest Turks and Caicos, noted that the key to strengthening linkages lies in how we develop the human resources in the islands: “A lot of the initiative towards upskilling our labour force and getting labour to benefit from the linkages in the tourism sector that has a greater impact on the economy and it has to be government led and investor supported.
There must be a “willingness” on the part of the investor to want to work with the government on upskilling and empowering labour. While there may be government programmes to assist upskilling labour, no linkages can be strengthened unless the investor is involved.
Norman Naar, Vice President of Sales for JAMPRO, added: “Certainly the government in facilitating the upskilling of the population’s labour force to serve the tourist industry, but just from a Caribbean perspective, and Jamaica in particular, from the population numbers they are there in terms of one of the largest labour pools in the world.
He continued, “But upskilling of that labour pool is important to continue to service the tourism sector.
“I think from all the hotel operator standpoint, there are some operators who allow movement in between the islands from the context of their organization.”
He added: “I think the movement of labour, ensuring that where there is a shortfall in one country, you can move labour from another country,” is important and should be a part of any government legislation on labour moving forward.
While several countries signed on to the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), other countries like The Bahamas refused to agree to the terms because of the free movement of labour.
This fear of labour and migration flowing from weak to strong and low income to higher income countries within the region is still an issue of contention within some of the CARICOM members and one that will not go away with ease.