Performance of tourism analysis: a Caribbean perspective

Introduces a new concept, performance of tourism (POT) analysis as a tool for measuring the performance of tourist destinations. Comments on the Caribbean region’s overdependence on tourism, and examines the scope of foreign exchange leakage. Tourism in the Caribbean generally grows faster than the world average. Often the success of tourism is measured from the gross figures rather than the net figures. Presents data from four Caribbean countries, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Jamaica and St Lucia to explain the concept. Key findings reflect surprising results. Based on the analysis done, a relatively new tourism destination in the Caribbean, Aruba, has outperformed mature tourist destination, Jamaica, by 16 to one.