Tourism and economic development in the Caribbean: Comparative advantage deferred

The main objectives of this study are to identify the role of tourism in economic development in the Caribbean with the aim of analyzing the components that contribute to the variation in visitor arrivals within the Caribbean countries. The idea is investigate the consequences of the movement of CARICOM countries into tourism related endeavors, by identifying the impact of tourism on the main economic sectors in those small island economies. In addition, the negative externalities that are produced by this export trade will also be visited.;This research will focus on the segment of Caribbean countries that belong to CARICOM, because of the propensity of those participants to have similar demographic features. Despite the fact that no forward judgment is being pronounced, rationale will dictate that islands with higher than average visitor arrivals with economies that depend on tourism receipts and multiplier effects, as a sizable part of their GDP, should have higher per capita benefit from the tourism industry.