OECS Agro-Tourism Demand Study 2016

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The increased focus on tourism in the Caribbean has become more critical because of the decline in traditional sectors such as agriculture which depended on the export of a narrow range of primary commodities to Europe and the United States of America (USA) on special preferential trade arrangements, which have been significantly eroded over the past two decades. With tourism‟s emergence as the lead economic sector in the OECS region, agriculture is being given a second look because of its multi-functional and cross-cutting nature and because of the recent global shifts in the use of food as important sources of energy, creating challenges for many countries in terms of their ability to provide food to feed growing populations.