ABSTRACT
The Caribbean is a geographic region that has come to be characterized by tourism. As these islands experienced a long decline in their agricultural industries, they often looked to tourism as a means of new economic development. The region as a whole saw particularly strong growth in the period between the 1970s and the 1990s, when tourist arrivals quadrupled (Thomas, Pigozzi and Sambrook, 2005). Much of this growth took place in the form of conventional mass tourism that centered on the islands’ beach resources. As such, the Caribbean has come to be identified as one of the world’s leading tourism destinations (Duval, 2004), and, in particular, one of the world’s leading sun, sea and sand (3S) destinations (Momsen, 2005). Yet, Caribbean tourism should not be seen as a one-dimensional tourism product. Sun, sea and sand may be the primary draw for the majority of the Caribbean’s tourists, but these tourists also often have a range of secondary interests away from the beach and seek to participate in other types of activities (Nelson and Torres, forthcoming). In addition, not all of the islands possess the white sand beaches that are a fundamental component of the Caribbean 3S tourism product and have looked to their other environmental resources to build an industry based on nature tourism.
