SOURCE: JAMAICA GLEANER/JANET SILVERA – Caribbean tourism leaders are stepping up calls to curb economic leakage from the region’s tourism industry, with Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Minister Charles Fernandez warning that the Caribbean “cannot replace sugar plantation with hotel plantation.”

Speaking at the recently concluded Caribbean Travel Marketplace, Fernandez said one of the major concerns raised by regional tourism officials and stakeholders was the large share of tourism revenue leaving Caribbean economies through imports and foreign ownership arrangements.

“One of the concerns, or the major concern, was leakage,” Fernandez said, noting that many Caribbean nations still import most of the products consumed within the tourism sector. He argued that the dependence on imports contributes to inflation while limiting the economic gains tourism should bring to local economies.

Fernandez also stressed the need for more Caribbean nationals to hold senior leadership positions within the tourism industry, saying locals are best suited to market and represent their own countries.