ABSTRACT
Similar to many other island economies, especially in the Caribbean, St Kitts has moved from an agricultural-based economy (sugar cane) to tourism over the recent years. For many island economies, this has become the reality and in a scramble to retain its economy, St Kitts has rapidly moved towards tourism development. This shift to tourism, however, has led to issues such as rapid and at times unplanned development, a lack of a cohesive vision and long-term planning, the disregard for sustainability principles in tourism development, a focus on tourist numbers rather than yield and the development of copycat development strategies that focus on traditional mass tourism rather than diversifying the tourism product to provide a unique and differentiated experience. These management and governance strategies have led to environmental and social impacts on the island resulting in a decrease in the tourism economy and related benefits to islanders.
