Caribbean Hotel Study Sheds Light on Local Spending in the Region

The positive contributions of hotels to the local economies in the Caribbean are grossly underestimated - and yet still present great opportunities for further optimizing its benefits. This, according to the final report of a recent study of “The Caribbean Accommodation Sector as a Consumer of Locally-Produced Goods and Services and Contributor to Government Revenues.”

The study was conducted by Tourism Global Inc. on behalf of the Caribbean Hotel Association, with funding provided by Pro€Invest, an agency of the Centre for Development Enterprise of the European Union.

The CHA sought to conduct this study to define and quantify what Caribbean accommodation establishments spend yearly supporting the economic well-being of workers, local entrepreneurs, professionals, service providers, other economic sectors, and even government’s revenues that finance the running of the country.

In so doing, CHA sought to reveal the possible opportunities for accelerating each country’s social and economic development, as well as the potential dangers of certain policies.

The study revealed that hotels in the sample purchased 93 percent of their utilities in the local economy. As much as 74 percent of vegetables used by the hotel sector are produced locally, while 67 percent of dairy products and 63 percent of meats are sourced locally.

Overall, the hotel sector is sourcing just under one-half (47 percent) of its requirements for light manufacturing locally. A whopping 84 percent of services required by the hotel sector are being purchased locally.

In addition to quantifying the successes in the purchase of locally-produced products and services, the survey uncovered areas where a low percentage is purchased locally; these in turn present the potential for growth and more benefits for local suppliers and purveyors.

The study complements the one that the World Travel and Tourism Council conducted in 2004, commissioned by CHA on the “Impact of Tourism on the Economy and Jobs in the Caribbean.”