Hotel industry disadvantagesy

The hotel industry has resulted in a large amount of leakage within the Caribbean tourism

industry. According to an article from Destinationthink, tourism leakage is defined as “A

phenomenon in which destinations lose their tourism revenue to foreign-owned businesses.” An

increase in foreign revenue is often cited as one of the major benefits of tourism to the

Caribbean. However, this has been undermined by all-inclusive resorts. According to Turner and

Troiano (1987), "An all-inclusive resort offers the traveler lodging, meals, and recreational

activities for a single price that also includes airport transfers, service charges, and gratuities."

This means that most of the revenue from tourism does not actually go into the local economy.

Instead, it is intercepted by the foreign-owned hotel chain. An article from Notintheguidebooks

states St Lucia has lost as much as 56% of its tourism income to export leakage, while Jamaica

has lost up to 40%. This problem is further exacerbated by the fact that many of these hotels

import their food rather than relying on local produce. The result is that the tourism industry is

becoming more isolated from the local economy.

Nevertheless, the hotel sector is slowly adapting to a new model that allows more cooperation

with local industries as Caribbean governments are creating more initiatives to help create more

linkages. According to an article from Matador Network, in 2013, Tourism Linkages Network

was established in Jamaica in order to increase the use of local goods and services in the tourism

sector. Certain hotel chains such as Sandal Bay are also trying to combat this effect by hosting

farmers' markets on the hotel ground. Initiatives such as these should be encouraged as they help

to stimulate the local economy

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