International Centre
for Cruise Research
A virtual
centre for research and for
researchers
Abstract
Persaud,
B. and Douglas, J. "Tourism and environmental protection in the
Caribbean,"
Ecodecision, 1996, No. 20,
58-60
Abstract: This article
recognizes the importance of the
environment to
tourism and suggests that a sustainable approach to tourism development
should
be encouraged, that sees environmental protection as a way of enhancing
the
economic value of tourism. In the Caribbean,
one of the most
popular forms of tourism is based around island cruises. To minimize
the effect
of this type of tourism on the environment, islands must cooperate in
setting
minimum head taxes so that cruise ship companies cannot play off one
island
against another. If a minimum charge is fixed taking into account the
general
value of the environment, individual islands could charge higher rates
in
accordance with their own attractiveness and circumstances. If an
island has
large numbers of stay-over visitors, and its resources are under
pressure, it
could limit cruise ship visits by levying
a high head tax.
www.cruiseresearch.org