Beyond tourism

However, reduced travel fol- Barbados, and Jamaica are expected to push for ambitious lowing the attacks of 11 September 2001 in the United investment programs that incorporate ethanol production States caused a contraction in the tourist market for the in the hope of a spike in the world price for sugar. [...] The educational system in the Caribbean is comparable to many in the developed world, The Caribbean is the most tourism-intensive region in although tertiary enrollment rates vary dramatically the world and tourism is the leading source of foreign within the region (see Table 2). [...] In 2004, the tourism technology is reducing the importance of geographical industry in the Caribbean directly supported over 800,000 location, there is still a strategic advantage to being locat- jobs and generated US$8.7 billion, which is the equivalent ed a short flight away from the USA, one of the centres of of 4.5 percent of GDP. [...] The call centres and cyber-parks that pushed India into the knowledge econ- In the instances where service industries have failed in the omy did not have the same success in the Caribbean. [...] The Caribbean entered the low-end of the call Generous government subsidies to call centres in Jamaica, centre business through telemarketing and then failed to Antigua and Barbuda, and the Dominican Republic never adapt to the new demands of the Internet era and the realized the promised spillover effects from the industry.