A lack of effective communication, transparency, and understanding of priorities are barriers that affected the collaboration among some tourism stakeholders across the Caribbean region amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

That was one of the findings highlighted in a recent Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI) study titled: ”Sun, Sand, and Sustainability: A Way Forward for Caribbean Tourism”, which was released last Thursday.

A total of 39 stakeholders were interviewed from regional countries, which include Barbados, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica, where highly qualitative methods were used to capture their insights and experiences.

Some of those stakeholders represented funding and development agencies; tourism associations; micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs); and government agencies.

According to Dr Ishtar Govia, researcher at CAPRI who led the project, the MSMEs stressed that business development support agencies are often disconnected from their needs and limitations.

“Operators also expressed that they are usually unaware of or unconvinced about the opportunities available from such agencies. More importantly, stakeholders found the application procedures required to receive business development support and assistance to be bureaucratic and even prohibitive and unfair to small businesses,” Govia added.

The research shared that resources and funding for MSMEs are available, but they are sometimes not utilised due to a lack of accessibility.

“Stakeholders perceive serious inequity within the sector, where large foreign-owned entities are favoured over small, local ones, despite the fact that local MSMEs make up the sector,” she argued.

The stakeholders, she said, called for better recognition of MSMEs and informal operators, in order to address their exclusion from important policy decisions, which seemed to occur at a higher level, with the input of larger foreign-owned entities.

“This need for representation of the smaller, more diverse sector players was seen as urgent during the novel coronavirus pandemic, when decisions affecting the survival and operation of these groups often occured without their input,” said Govia.

Recommending that more assistance is needed for MSMEs, Govia said, “Governments should pilot an incubation period for new MSMEs started by sole traders and partnerships. During this period, they can have lower-tier compliance requirements, which can graduate to stronger tiers.”