Transforming the Caribbean Tourism Ecosystem

By Ryan Peterson
CJ Contributor

It a truism that tourism is experiencing a tectonic transformation. Over the past decade, the global tourism and travel industry has had to contend with a series of unprecedented Social, Political, Economic, Ecological and Digital (SPEED) developments.

The systemic nature of SPEED emphasizes both the interconnectedness and impacts of tourism in the Caribbean. The recent declaration by the United Nations of 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development underscores the disruptive role of tourism, and more importantly, creates a unique inflection point for transforming tourism ecosystems in the Caribbean.

As small island tourism societies venture into the new realities of the 21st century, they face considerable uncertainty, volatility, and ambiguity, which will require nothing less than an equally tectonic shift in not only sustaining tourism, but more importantly, transforming (future) tourism ecosystems.

However, unlike the ‘push forces’ that shaped tourism specialization well over thirty years ago, today’s sustainability is shaped by ‘pull forces’ of diversity and demand. With a new generation of affluent travelers seeking authentic experiences across the Caribbean, it is no surprise that traditional tourism is facing boundary-shifting disruptions, including the disintermediation of traditional hotel industries, the disenchantment with crowding and costs, and the desire for experiential engagement and intimacy.

As affluence begets authenticity, so does authenticity command agility on the part of tourism ecosystems. In effect, small island tourism societies are experiencing the pressures and prowess to re-experiment and re-invent tourism, without relying and resorting to past policies and practices.

The quest at hand is not merely a balancing of existing and future social, economic and ecological stakes, but more importantly, how small island tourism societies transcend these traditional ‘transactional’ boundaries, in order to transform tourism ecosystems in an integrated, inclusive and innovative fashion.

To understand this emerging shift towards transforming tourism ecosystems in the Caribbean, it essential that we place this within the contemporary political-economic context of Caribbean small island tourism societies.

Generally speaking, small island tourism societies define themselves by a complex and adaptive web of dynamic interdependencies between intrinsically unpredictable economic, social, ecological, and institutional factors and actors (institutions).

As small island tourism societies mature face turbulence, they evolve through different spheres, and increasingly operate on the ‘edge-of-chaos’. This is oftentimes experienced as temporal states of ‘crisis’ between policy-makers, executives, and island communities.

In effect, small island tourism societies increasingly experience strategic discontinuities and multiple dynamic equilibria in their development. Ironically, the increasing tourism specialization of small Caribbean islands, in a dynamically evolving and disruptive environment, conspires against the resiliency of tourism ecosystems due to systemic (institutional) inertia – this is we culture!

While small island tourism societies have matured in managing the ‘atomistic’ terms and transactions of economic, social and ecological dimensions, with varying degrees of success and sustainability, the need for transcending and transforming these ‘atoms’ of sustainable tourism, presents a clear and present need for transforming tourism ecosystems in an integrated, inclusive and innovative fashion.

In effect, the acclaimed sustainability triangle of economic, social and ecological developments and impacts is pointless, if tourism governance and transformative leadership do not co-evolve within and beyond the tourism ecosystem. More importantly, the tourism ecosystem involves more than the traditional public-private tourism gaze of small-island tourism societies. Without shared values, ethics and integrity, sustainable tourism will remain flawed in conceptualization, futile in execution, and fleeting in sustainability. In a culture of crusading disciples, drowned in disjointed policies and politics, creative deconstruction and transformative leadership of tourism ecosystems is not only necessary – it is imperative for Caribbean prosperity and achieving resilience of small island tourism societies. No island is an island by and of itself…

Ryan R. Peterson PhD is General Manager for Economic Policy at the Central Bank of Aruba. All views and expressions are solely his. He can be reached at rpeterson@cbaruba.org.