Tourism to Caribbean Generates $27 Billion

Jamaican Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett said tourism remains the most vital source of earnings and economic activity for the majority of Caribbean islands, with region-wide revenues estimated at more than $27 billion.

“Tourism is the single largest generator of foreign exchange in 16 of the 28 countries in the Caribbean, with the sector receiving the most by way of foreign direct investment,” he was quoted as saying by Jamaica Observer.

Bartlett noted that the Caribbean has a higher proportion of total employment and percentage of GDP derived from tourism than any other region in the world.

It is estimated that one in every four people is employed in tourism-related activities and the sector accounts for 41% of all exports and services in the Caribbean, and 31% of all GDP.

The region received a record 29 million visitors in 2016—over one million more than in 2015.