The article “What’s new in the Caribbean for 2022” written by Suri (2020) describes the revitalization of the Caribbean islands after the pandemic of COVID-19. Specifically, the author mentions that the infrastructure in the region is undergoing serious renovations and advancements to attract an even bigger number of visitors when the situation grows more stable. In 2020, the Caribbean travel industry experienced a devastating downturn, but in 2021, a substantial share of international travelers chose the region as their destination. The author specifies that Americans are not an exception; the reasons are the proximity of the islands and their relatively successful campaign against the pandemic.
To delve deeper into the situation with the tourism advancements of the Caribbean, Suri provides specific data. According to the author, many visitors, primarily people from the U.S., were driven to the Caribbean as a pandemic travel destination because of its accessibility and reasonably successful reputation in managing Covid-19 (Suri, 2021). Though incoming visitations were severely impacted in 2020, the number of foreign tourists in 2021 was significantly more significant, at least for a selection of islands (Suri, 2021). 14 of the 26 Caribbean Tourism Organization participating nations reported a substantial increase in international travelers in 2021.
Considering the above, the region seeks to turn new visitors into regular to overcome the quarantine-related economic recession as soon as possible. This requires a maximal renovation of the resorts so that they can remain sufficiently competitive. Therefore, the most popular and influential islands are investing outstandingly large sums in their development. The latter involves not solely constructing and renovating touristic objects, such as hotels or beaches, but also essential advancements in other spheres. Among those is energy, where the Caribbean islands seek to reach complete self-sufficiency, transport, the supply of potable water, and others.
To complete its goal, the region has to increase its capacity substantially, which means the ability to house more people than possible at the current stage. This requires additional dwellings, air seats, and attractions to entertain the guests. In addition, the existing visa policies need reconsidering to enable visitors to spend long-lasting vacations in the region with no worries about bureaucratic issues. Furthermore, some islands are planning to allow foreigners to work without any special documents, which may add to their willingness to stay in the region. Certain communities find creative solutions to attract as many people as possible, among which is a cruise to Bermuda with no connection to other islands.
To provide factual information and illuminate ongoing changes, Suri provides examples of developers like John Alexander. He intends to build more accommodations and will open the area’s first glamping destination, Little Bay Eco Resort, on 54 acres, with tented rooms comparable to another luxurious glamping resort, Paws Up Montana (Suri, 2021). Another example is shown through St. Lucia’s attitude, in 2021 received 20,000 extra flight seats from the U.S., and the development of new facilities was already ongoing (Suri, 2021). According to the island’s head of state, Evelyn Wever-Croes, Aruba’s number of tourists began to recover in July 2021 (Suri, 2021). The region now intends to invest around $153 million in 2022 and $264 million in 2023 to increase accommodations.
It is worth noting, however, that the tourist industry in the Caribbean remains underdeveloped and dramatically limited in scope. Notably, the population of the Americas continues to make the majority of the visitors, while people from Europe, Asia, and Australia give their preference to the region quite rarely. While people from some countries were afraid of the quarantine upon arrival and were not keen on traveling, few countries maintained the tourism levels. Nevertheless, according to the material provided by Suri, the people of the Caribbean hope to make major advancements in further years.
Another nuance is that not all of the islands are experiencing an uplift in tourism. Some of them are difficult to reach, and some others were bound to close their borders completely to interfere with the spread of the virus. The former need to focus on their transport infrastructure to allow for a stable flow of tourists, which involves constructing large and technically advanced airports as well as opening more flights. Regarding the latter, their interest in attracting foreign visitors currently is especially deep because they seek to outcompete the islands that earned loyalty during the pandemic due to their availability.
All of the above determines the quite intensive rivalry among the Caribbean islands, all of which seek to form and extend their bases of loyal customers. In one respect, this requires outstanding investments, which may become a burden on the local economies. On the contrary, the industry of tourism can be a substantial source of income that will be able to help the region overcome the pandemic-driven crisis rapidly. Therefore, the islands are facing the challenge of designing the optimal investment policies as well as finding the solutions to attract maximally possible amounts of tourists.
Within the course of social sciences, the article under review can serve as an illustration of several essential concepts. The first of these is mass tourism; the social conceptualization of this practice rests, primarily, on analyzing the reasons why people decide to travel (Butcher, 2020). In particular, one of the most frequent among those is the growing ability of the population to realize their desires. The latter, in turn, is a quite reliable marker of the recent tendencies in several other spheres of social life.
Thus, technical progress, the development of infrastructure, unprecedented mobility, and the ever-growing respect towards privacy give modern people outstanding personal freedom. Subsequently, they acquire additional room for self-actualization, satisfying their taste for adventure, escapism, and others. Moreover, with the ability to visit another country, tourists can expose themselves to local culture, values, and beliefs, which also plays a significant role in their desire to travel. All of those encourage people to visit exotic and frequently mysterious locations, which the Caribbean islands are for many.
The factors mentioned in the previous paragraph are possible to label the umbrella term of social change. As guessable from the name, it stands for the transformations that occur in a certain society under the influence of particular factors. In the given case, the central issue is the shift in people’s travel preferences. Notably, the criteria on which tourists rely when choosing a destination changed noticeably in comparison with the pre-pandemic period (Suri, 2022). This shows how the internal factors that determine an individual’s decisions appear in response to their external equivalents. The pandemic made people change their priorities, which, in turn, gave birth to new trends, such as choosing nearby destinations to visit (ibid.). This, in addition, shows how closely various spheres are intertwined and, consequently, how probable they are to influence each other.
Health is another essential concept of social science that the example of the Caribbean can illustrate. In particular, the point where social and medical studies overlap is the factors of social origin that can influence public health; behavior during a pandemic belongs to those. The author mentions the relatively good ability of the region under review to combat the infection among the factors that encouraged more Americans to visit it (Suri, 2022). In addition, people began to avoid traveling to remote locations; the most probable reason for this is minimizing unnecessary contact, but this is not the only point. Thus, it is possible to guess that the proximity of the destination provides more psychological comfort than a traveler would have in a remote place. If this assumption corresponds to reality, it may be a textbook example of a situation where the origin of health behavior is not exclusively physiology-based.
Finally, management also is an essential notion social science operates; this sphere of knowledge considers not solely the psychological peculiarities of particular individuals but also the principles of interaction in society. In the given article, the author describes the measures that the authorities of the Caribbean islands are taking to attract more tourists to the destinations. This requires good managerial skills because it is critical to design well-balanced strategies and policies that would allow for the most appropriate allocation of the available resources. The latter, in turn, calls for understanding the driving forces of consumer behavior, social change, and other factors that may determine decisions in management. Social science, meanwhile, can provide a theoretical framework for a detailed examination of the issue.
The relatedness of the article to the problems that are observable in the modern world is direct to the maximal possible degree; actually, it describes one of those. The pandemic of COVID-19 and the quarantine that accompanies it caused a quite serious crisis around the globe. Primarily, infectious diseases, notwithstanding the medical as well as technological progress, remain on the list of the most frequent causes of death even in developed countries (Shang et al., 2021). The low level of tourist flow is justified by people’s desire to reduce the spread of the disease.
In the course of globalization, the threat that they bear becomes even more considerable because the speed with which viruses and bacteria spread grows as well. The article illustrates the seriousness of the problem; thus, the author mentions that some of the Caribbean, such as Trinidad and the Cayman Islands, were bound to close their borders completely (Suri, 2022). In one respect, this helped the region control the epidemiological situation relatively successfully, but on the contrary, the economic consequences were devastating.
The latter is another problem that the world is experiencing due to the pandemic. Notably, it caused a global economic downturn; a range of countries is still recovering from it. Tourism was among the most sufficiently affected industries, for which two most apparent reasons are possible to identify. The first is the need for maximal isolation, which made most people avoid long journeys. In addition, many lost their jobs and, consequently, the ability to travel. The combination of these factors and, presumably, the underdeveloped touristic infrastructure of the Caribbean led to the situation where most foreign visitors are from the Americas.
The given work aroused a feeling of obligation in me. For example, the Caribbean includes developing countries that are dependent on tourism. As a result, as an individual who resides relatively close to this location, I feel there is a need to support their economy. The given material led many entrepreneurs to open new facilities and recreational areas to contribute to the development of the area and make a profit. Trips to the Caribbean islands might be even cheaper than some destinations in North America. The entrepreneurial ideas of John Alexander, in my opinion, can help the islands recover from the crisis faster if travelers start to visit the destinations again. This way, the illumination of the topic in the article by Suri made the thought of vacationing in the Caribbean even more enticing.
At the same time, the article also made me support those who refuse to travel at this time. While refusal to travel causes global expenditures to tourist businesses, the approach of people who do not desire to spread the virus had experienced a layoff or fear isolation is quite understandable. Meanwhile, I agree to support the attitude of tourists described in the article. For example, while some people refused to travel to the Caribbean islands, it was said that they remained loyal to their favorite destination and would not want to go anywhere else.
Nevertheless, the most crucial topic of the article is not just the islands as an enticing destination, but a destructive manner of Covid-19. The discussed pandemic had a negative impact not only on the overall global economy but hit developing countries the hardest. The author allowed the readers to understand the pandemic’s tremendous effect on the countries and nations that are dependent on tourism. With the situation in the Caribbean, many businesses and islands were preparing for tourism flow and making advancements in this field. However, the refusal of tourists to visit the local destinations also contributed to the further escalation of local economies due to the inability to maintain the infrastructure.
According to multiple pieces of research, the Caribbean islands’ communities struggle with many issues, such as crime, poverty, and migration. Some of the problems such nations confront are related to their remote island characteristics (Wilson et al., 2019). These are thought to contribute to socioeconomic instabilities, particularly in the face of more robust economies and the lack of a fair playing field in the international market (Wilson et al., 2019). Therefore, in the face of such global problems as pandemics, it is evident that communities will experience even more significant exposure to the issues mentioned above. This makes the article especially helpful in bringing attention to these communities and their challenges.
Thus, the article changed my perception of tourism loyalty, the pandemic’s impact, and the challenges of maintaining the tourism infrastructure. With the help of the article, I realized several points which did not seem too apparent to me before this moment. For example, while it seemed natural that people travel to fulfill their desires, in the face of the pandemic, numerous travelers refused to go abroad, fearing isolation or a more extensive pandemic outbreak. Moreover, I realized how much the economies of many countries are dependent on the levels of tourist flow. Many already struggling nations had to meet the challenge of being unable to sustain or develop many spheres.
In conclusion, it is necessary to recapitulate the essence of the article, its relation to modern-day problems, and the feelings the article aroused. The article “What’s new in the Caribbean for 2022,” written by Suri, illuminates the influence of Covid-19 on the Caribbean islands’ economy and tourism infrastructure. While before the pandemic, many destinations in the Caribbean experienced growth and advancements in the face of tourist inflow, the time of the pandemic, many people refused to go abroad. As a result, to attract even more visitors, local business owners and government officials have to find ways to develop the infrastructure further. This included the construction of new buildings and advancements in supply and transportation systems.
The article is quite relatable and sheds light on the tourism issue that many countries undergo due to the Covid outbreak. What is more, the article written by Suri made me think of the community challenges, personal contributions to foreign economies, and support of entrepreneurial ideas that can lead to the successful attraction of tourists, such as the idea of John Alexander. While local communities struggle with crime, poverty, and migration exacerbated by the pandemic, innovative ideas, and significant investments can help the Caribbean’s economy rehabilitate faster. Also, though I understand the approaches of travelers to refuse to go abroad for fear of isolation, or other reasons, I agree with many tourists who remain loyal to the Caribbean islands.
References
Butcher, J. (2020). Constructing mass tourism. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 23(6), 898-915. Web.
Shang, Yu., Li, H., & Zhang, R. (2021). Effects of pandemic outbreak on economies: Evidence from business history context. Frontiers in Public Health, 9, article 632043. Web.
Suri, C. (2020) What’s new in the Caribbean for 2022. The New-York Times. Web.
Wilson, S., Nakhid, C., Fernandez-Santana, A., & Nakhid-Chatoor, M. (2019). An interrogation of research on Caribbean social issues: Establishing the need for an indigenous Caribbean research approach. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 15(1), 3-12. Web.