Policy coherence and sustainable tourism in the Caribbean

The common failure to give due weight to environmental and social factors creates a risk that that short‐term economic growth objectives may be traded off against long‐term objectives, such as environmental quality. This potential policy conflict may be exacerbated in the developing countries that are undergoing structural adjustment, as the associated trimming of non‐core public expenditure will typically include measures designed to manage the environment. Thus the long‐term future of the vital tourist industry might be compromised in the process of meeting short‐term public expenditure reduction targets. The solution lies partly in improved policy coherence; micro‐level prescriptions are more likely to be sustainable per se and also help to underpin a wider process of sustainable development if the appropriate policy framework is analysed and evolved integrally, as part of a coherent national plan. The need, therefore, is for an appropriate, flexible structure that could capture the business, environmental and developmental aspects of tourism.