ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION It is conventionally believed that the future of Caribbean tourism depends on factors that are external to the region - multinational corporations (MNCs), the strength of the US economy, the price of oil, the Gulf War and recession, are all identified as factors that will decide the fate of Caribbean tourism. This is the type of fatalism that sometimes pervades development thought and practice. To some extent, such fatalism is justified. The small size of Caribbean islands makes their participation in the world economy an absolute necessity.l Small size also precludes Caribbean islands from controlling the pace or direction of international tourism changes. The point hardly recognized, however, is that participation in the international economy does not have to be passive, nor does room for manoeuvre have to be fatalistically determined from the outside.
