Airbnb on Island Nations

Tourism is complicated!

Especially considering how the macroeconomics of the tourism industry impacts the people. Entire countries can devote the majority of their resources to cater to citizens of foreign lands. The result? Fleeting desires for authentic experiences and increases in overcrowded tourist hotspots. Let's take a look at the top 10 nations/locations that have the highest percentage of their workforce devoted to jobs in the Travel and Tourism (T&T) industry. (Hint: you may want to zoom in on the Caribbean!)

As you can easily see, island nations are at the heart of this high-tourism phenomenon. Promises of exotic shores and luxury resorts have enticed enough tourists over the years that these nations have become wildly dependent on tourism as their means of financial support. With such a large percentage of jobs devoted to tourism, the percentage of their GDP that comes from tourism is closely correlated in most of these countries.

Take a look at just how strong of a hold tourism has on these nations. For example, 69 out of every 100 employed people in the US Virgin Islands work a job that contributes to the tourism industry. (The top 10 countries are all above 50%!)

That's interesting... but why does this matter?

Well, there are a few reasons this matters. Both the physical environment and the socio-political environment feel the impacts of tourism, often leaving locals to bear the burden of change caused by tourism. To better understand some of the environmental implications of a country so embedded in the tourism industry, here's a quotation from McElroy's Tourism Development in Small Islands across the World,

"In the Caribbean, tourism expansion has directly or indirectly caused deforestation and erosion of upland forests for condominium developments and road-works, as well as beach loss, lagoon pollution and reef damage from sand mining, dredging and boat anchoring... Nearly 30% of the reefs are at high risk due to runoff and discharges of untreated municipal and hotel waste, and pollution from pleasure yachts and cruise ships."

The socio-political landscape is a bit tricker. With countries so financially dependent on tourism, the tourism industry can be argued as either a fiscal saving grace or as a detriment for the citizens that live there. Tourism allows corporations to exercise political and structural pull on the development of the nations. While money is coming in and tourism can be seen just like any other export good, their resources, land, and infrastructure all become increasingly subject to the will of the companies that own the resorts. These resorts make their decisions with the knowledge of the customer (the tourist) in mind. In this way, we can see how the tourists that visit island nations have more power to impact the structural development of the country than its own citizens.

Just how dependent are these countries on tourism revenue?

Take a look at the map below, which illustrates the percentage of a country's GDP from Tourism, as well as the GDP per capita. The smaller green dots represent GDP per capita, and the larger multi-color dots represent the percentage of GDP that comes from tourism. Hover over these informative bubbles, and compare their levels to countries outside of the Caribbean.

As you can see, the GDP of many of these countries is very dependent on tourism, and many are performing at a higher GDP per capita than neighboring countries with more diversified imports and exports. The economic make-up of these nations differs greatly from the rest of the world!

Here's a look at another map that shows the annual number of tourists per country, the dollars spent per tourist, and the number of tourists on cruises in the Caribbean region in 2010. If you want to dig deeper, you can calculate an estimated annual spend from tourists in these countries with some simple multiplication. See the legend below to best understand the markings on the map.

So tourism brings in money and creates jobs, but can still be detrimental? How?

This quotation from Scheyvens' and Momsen's Tourism and Poverty Reduction should shed some light on this disparity:

“...the growth of tourism in [small island developing states] is by no means synonymous with poverty reduction, in fact, in some cases it entrenches existing inequalities. If tourism is to contribute significantly to the reduction of poverty in SIDS, a broad approach that values social sustainability as well as the more popular environmental sustainability and economic growth will be necessary”

In other words, an influx of money from tourism spending does not necessarily directly improve the quality of life for the locals of that country. Furthermore, according to an article published in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism, a group of researchers conducted a survey of 995 residents of the São Miguel island and found that,

“residents thought that tourism in general was the most detrimental to urban issues like traffic and crowding”

These survey results illustrate that traffic and overcrowding are most visible issues for locals on a daily basis. Overtourism can cause air pollution, water pollution, visual and noise pollution, and can create economies that are catered entirely to the tourist and leave little room for authentic experiences, something tourists increasingly desire.

With the help of Notar's discourse on the inauthentic self, we can better understand why exotic destinations like these can be seen as authentic, even when they are totally catered to the tourist. This phenomenon suggests that tourists distance themselves from the "inauthentic us" and consider anything outside the realm of their familiar to be authentic. Perhaps this is why overcrowded and tourist-centric locations still receive so much business, despite lacking what most people would consider true authenticity. I argue that true authenticity when traveling exists in spaces that are developed with both the locals and the tourists in mind, a place where the locals' daily operations are not hindered or altered by the tourism industry.

Okay, now I understand the main issues that tourism can impose on island nations. Is there a solution that can reduce overtourism, increase authenticity, and contribute to a more sustainable economic landscape?

While it may not be foolproof, a lot can be learned from the Airbnb model for tourism, specifically for island nations. Here are some of the pros:

• Overtourism: Island nation tourists disproportionately congregate on the coastline, which results in overcrowding. Inland Airbnb host locations help to spread out tourists.
• Economic: Only $0.64-0.86 of every dollar spent at a resort goes to the community. With Airbnb, almost every cent goes directly to the members of the community.
• Authenticity: Airbnb hosts consistently offer their guests more authentic experiences, like restaurants and activities that the locals themselves enjoy.

Nicolas Deere's perspective on sustainable development, while not specific to island nations, can offer some guidance looking forward. It's clear to me that the way in which the tourism industry currently operates in island nations is unsustainable. Land is demolished to create ever more resorts, cruise ships to and from these nations damage the reefs and fishing capabilities on the coasts, and the centralized resort-spaces result in crowded and polluted areas that are detrimental to the ideal lifestyle of the locals.

The first steps towards sustainable development of these islands lies in a transition away from resorts. Airbnb operates off of existing infrastructure and does not require increased demolition of precious land. Airbnb allows hosts to engage with guests in more wholesome ways that mitigate tension that arises from the tourist gaze and other social implications of tourism. Airbnb is able to spread out tourist experiences so that money can be distributed more ethically. While Airbnb itself may not be the sole answer for island nations suffering from poor tourism practices and a lack of regulation, their initiatives can still serve as a benchmark for how tourism can remain a large contributor to a country's GDP, without suffering some of the very prevalent consequences of resort-style tourism.