By Deodat Maharaj
Caribbean economies have largely been primary producers with a focus on goods for much of our history. Diversification has been consistent in our regional and national discourse with limited progress, despite our best efforts. Globalization has had a huge impact on our small economies, exacerbated by shocks such as the current coronavirus pandemic, not to mention the effects of climate change and financial crises. What every crisis, including the current one, has taught us is that we must continue to innovate with our current exports and identify alternative routes to job creation and foreign exchange generation.
Commuting and exporting services is a viable option. While tourism remains important, the reality is that we have to think beyond tourists in terms of services. The evidence says we must. According to the Caribbean Tourism Organization, last year, countries suffered a huge blow. For example, Grenada saw a 73% drop in the number of tourists arriving. The decline was 69.2%, and 71.4% for St Lucia and Belize respectively. Because of COVID-19, tourism continues to suffer from ongoing depression