Caribbean tourism leaders are intensifying calls to reduce economic leakage from the sector, with Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Minister Charles Fernandez warning that the region “cannot replace sugar plantation with hotel plantation”.

Speaking during the just-concluded Caribbean Travel Marketplace, Fernandez said regional tourism officials and stakeholders were increasingly concerned about the amount of tourism revenue leaving Caribbean economies through imports and foreign ownership structures.

“One of the concerns, or the major concern, was leakage,” Fernandez said, while referencing discussions among regional tourism ministers and delegates at the conference. He noted that many Caribbean countries continue to import the majority of the goods consumed by the tourism industry, contributing to inflationary pressures and limiting the full economic benefits of tourism.