ABSTRACT
This chapter contains several recommendations that US policy-makers can pursue to support the development of tourism in the region, at the same time that they continue to support efforts to promote greater investment in non-traditional exports of both goods and services. It presents a practitioner's view of the role that tourism is increasingly playing in US trade policy towards the Caribbean Basin. In the early days of the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), less emphasis was placed on the importance of tourism as a means for economic development than on the need for additional investment. Regional development experts and, trade experts had tended to take tourism for granted in the early years of the CBI and to view the sector as an economic activity. As a result of legislation enacted in 1990 to enhance and extend the CBI programme, US policy experts are confident that tourism can assume a significant role in US trade policy towards the region.
