Evaluating the economic impact of cruise tourism: A case study of Barbados

The failure of the import substitution model for economic development has led many countries to look for alternative explanations. The success of export led development in South Korean, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong has resulted in some countries shifting their development to industries in which they have a comparative advantage, that is, export industries. Tourism is one export industry that developing nations, particularly Island economies, have a comparative advantage. Traditionally, the most important reason for developing a tourism industry is the expected macroeconomic benefits. With improvement in the balance of payments being the most important of those benefits. This study develops a model to evaluate the impact of cruise tourism on a destination and tests the model on the economy of Barbados.