Grenada, Saint Lucia, SVG contribute 30% to Eastern Caribbean’s GDP with blue economy: OECS

Caribbean: Three countries including Grenada, Saint Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines emerged as the 30% contributors to the GDP of the Eastern Caribbean due to their ocean tourism. While announcing the data, the OECS remarked that the tourism of these countries has turned out to be effective due to their instant and rapid recovery post pandemic. 

According to the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), the countries have attracted travellers from across the globe with their diverse tourism offerings. It lauded the sustainable efforts of the countries with their resorts, authentic marine adventures, cultural experiences with diverse arrays of festivals and carnival, wellness tourism with healthy lifestyle practices and the enhanced cruise infrastructure. 

OECS stated that these factors have contributed to driving the economy in these countries after the halt of the COVID-19 pandemic and stated that these changes remained positive for their revenue. These factors have also fostered the Blue Tourism of these countries which had further enhanced financial returns and promoted sustainable development. 

In addition to that, ocean tourism also promoted sustainable development and conservation in these countries, protecting them from the impacts of climate change. These sectors attracted the tourists from the markets including the United States, the Europe and the United Kingdom and received huge revenue from the tourism sector. 

What are the other factors for the achievement?

The OECS stated that the strategic geographical location was one of the factors for the driving of the tourism as their stunning landscape, rich biodiversity, and growing demand for sustainable activities were contributed towards the countries’ tourism appeal. The Blue Economy has the potential to build a huge market of 407 billion dollars and the World Bank also asserted that the sustainable use of ocean resources also helps in driving economic growth. 

The resources also generate new means of livelihood in the countries and improve the health of the ecosystem. As per the OECS, these Caribbean jurisdictions consisted of approximately +234,038km2 of exclusive economic zone waters, offering great opportunities for the investors to invest in the fields such as tourism, aquaculture and fisheries. 

Quality of Life: Peaceful environment and unsplit beaches of these countries offer great quality of life, making people spend their quality time with their loved ones in such an environment.

Modern Infrastructure: The infrastructure in these countries is modern and enhanced, providing a chance for the tourists to explore several natural wonders. 

What does invest in the blue economy promise mean?

The investment in the blue economy promises have asked the counties to work accordingly for the protection of the resources in the ocean so that the impact of the climate change can be combated. 

With these promises, the countries have been obtaining lucrative returns in their finances while providing clean and authentic resources of the oceans to the tourists. By protecting the resources, the countries have been working towards their sustainability goals of the small island nations and in the end, they are working to reduce the impact of climate change.

In addition to that, the blue economy is derived from the sustainable use of the ocean resources which also helps in uplifting the marine infrastructure and the coastal communities. The communities whose income is based on marine activities including fisherfolks and other people at the coasts have been uplifted through the initiatives as it generated new job opportunities and the practices that are sustainable for the environment. 

The extensive expanse of marine resources has presented several opportunities for investment in the countries such as Grenada, Saint Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines.