When studying developing countries throughout the Middle East and Africa, it's common for the curriculum at some point to discuss the "Resource Curse," wherein the discovery of an abundance of some profitable natural resource ultimately leads to less development more strife despite the profits. I suppose I invoke this familiar concept to give a very very general idea as to how tourism is in the Caribbean. The Caribbean, with clear-water beaches, ample greenery, the best food, and overall beauty of the region is naturally set to profit greatly from tourism, and many countries have leaned into this as a key part of economic prosperity. However, what's behind the luscious postcards paints a picture of the modern-day crimes of imperialism, as income inequality, foreign wealth extraction, sex-trafficking, overall lack of development, crime, state violence, etc. plague the region with no benefits to the locals.
Tourism maintained and controlled by locals is one thing, but that is not the phenomena observed in the Caribbean. Rather, tourism is pushed onto the Caribbean as a main outlet of economic development by Western powers; in this instance, the "resources" are the people, the environment, the culture. I invoked the resource curse at the beginning of this in part because of the view of the Caribbean's natural beauty and humanity as a resource or even as a mere commodity. Especially in the case of sex tourism, women and children are the commodities; which should most definitely be a crime given its contribution to the increase in human sex trafficking in and around the region. The local population becomes the primary service providers, oftentimes at damn-near plantation style labor where workers are purposely paid low wages while being expected to perform multiple tasks for tourists. Similar to how some African nations have changed mining laws to allow for further exploitation by multinational corporations, some governments in the Caribbean maintain laws that allow workers to be paid crumbs in order to maximise profits for the businesses in the tourism industry. And if the locals do not cater their culture and livelihood towards Western tourists? Cruise lines, hotels, and other businesses discontinue contracts and people are left with little to no other economic means, for the tourism industry is pushed upon the Caribbean as a significant means of prosperity, leaving other sectors underdeveloped or nonexistent.
"The result of neo-colonialism is that foreign capital is used for the exploitation rather than for the development of the less developed parts of the world. Investment under neo-colonialism increases rather than decreases the gap between the rich and poor countries of the world."
-Kwame Nkrumah
The "sovereign" governments of the Caribbean often fall in line with tourism development as directed by imperial states and corporations. Well, one can imagine what happens to governments that don't fall in line with the Empire's agenda, as there's decades of US State Department conversations and CIA memos revealing how countries are treated should they go against that. In order to make way for foreign investments states will force the local population out of areas prime for tourism. In places around Haiti's coastline, they will kill and kidnap civilians while forcing conflicts to drive people out so these areas can be "developed" for tourism. In Jamaica, the police and even sometimes the military are used as draconian security forces to protect tourists and the industry's profiteers against a desperate population who never see the benefits of mass tourism. All the scams, crime, and tourist traps that have developed would most likely be hindered if the population was actually able to experience some tangible amount of prosperity that their land, labor, and culture brought. But no, just as it is around the world the idea of any degree of self-sufficiency for people who have been historically oppressed is scoffed at or feared by the powers that be.
https://twitter.com/madanboukman/status/1354289989480230912?s=20
- madanboukman
The lack of opportunity, crime, under development, and every other aspect of this neo-colonialism pushes locals not only away from their home communities but their home country as a whole should they not submit and assimilate to a primarily Western, foreign tourist industry. Almost every time a Caribbean nation leans into tourism as a key means of profit this happens; Haitians and Cubans for instance, despite their differing governments, place in development, and economic policies can both attest to this to a degree. No matter what country it is, a dependence on mass tourism leads to an overdependence on foreign powers where the profits of this are not seen by the average citizens. It leaves economies and cultures to be shaped by foreign powers and corporate bodies rather than the local population as it should be. Does sustainable and respectable tourism exist? Absolutely, but the kind that has been forced upon the bold and beautiful Caribbean is an imperialist curse that stifles growth to keep our nations in line for the profits of the few at the expense of the many.
Sources/Further Information:
https://journals.openedition.org/etudescaribeennes/7524
https://www.e-ir.info/2020/02/04/globalization-human-trafficking-and-tourism-in-the-caribbean/#.Xj45VSKX7MU.twitter
https://twitter.com/madanboukman