CHTA Taps FIU to Track Caribbean Tourism Dollars

Every piña colada poured on a beach in Barbados, every mango on a breakfast buffet in the Bahamas, every locally inspired excursion booked through a resort concierge — these small transactions add up to something enormous. In 2025 alone, an estimated 35 million stayover visitors touched down across the Caribbean, spending more than $40 billion along the way. That figure surpassed pre-pandemic levels and reinforced the region’s standing as one of the most tourism-dependent parts of the world.

But here’s the catch that regional leaders are now determined to solve: a lot of that money doesn’t stay in the Caribbean. A significant share of the food, goods and services tourists consume is still imported rather than sourced from local farmers, manufacturers and entrepreneurs — a phenomenon economists call “leakage,” where revenue generated by tourism ends up flowing back out to other countries’ economies instead of circulating within the destination itself.

Now, the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) is doing something about it — and it’s bringing in serious academic firepower to figure out exactly how big the problem is.

A Six-Month Deep Dive Into Where the Money Goes

CHTA has commissioned Florida International University’s Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management to lead a sweeping, six-month regional study designed to map out tourism demand across the Caribbean and pinpoint precisely where dollars are slipping through the cracks. The research will span at least six Caribbean jurisdictions, chosen to represent the region’s diversity — from large all-inclusive resort hubs and cruise-heavy ports to smaller boutique and specialty destinations.

The scope is ambitious. Researchers will examine demand across agriculture, manufacturing, entertainment and other sectors that feed the tourism machine, then trace supply chains to see how much of that demand is currently met by local and regional producers versus imports. The end goal: a clear-eyed picture of investment opportunities and practical strategies for strengthening the links between the visitor economy and the people who live in these destinations year-round.

It’s not the Chaplin School’s first rodeo in the region — the new initiative builds on a similar Tourism Demand Study the school conducted for Jamaica back in 2014 and 2015. This time, though, the ambition is regional rather than single-market, layering multiple economies, currencies and supply networks into one comparative framework.

Why This Matters Beyond the Balance Sheet

It’s easy to hear “economic leakage study” and assume this is purely a back-office concern for hoteliers and finance ministers. It isn’t. For travelers, the outcome of this kind of research shapes the very texture of a Caribbean vacation.

Destinations that successfully source more locally tend to offer richer, more authentic experiences — think farm-to-table dining featuring produce grown minutes from the resort, rum and craft spirits distilled on-island, artisan goods in the gift shop that actually came from a local maker rather than a container ship. When tourism dollars circulate locally instead of leaking abroad, communities see more jobs, more entrepreneurship and, often, a more distinctive sense of place — the very thing that separates a memorable Caribbean trip from a generic beach holiday.

There’s also a resilience angle. Destinations that rely heavily on imports are more exposed to supply chain shocks, currency swings and shipping disruptions — vulnerabilities that became painfully visible during the pandemic years. Diversifying toward regional and local suppliers isn’t just good economics; it’s a hedge against the next disruption, whatever form it takes.

The People Behind the Project

The study is being steered by CHTA’s Linkages Task Force, chaired by Immediate Past President Nicola Madden-Greig, who framed the effort in terms that go beyond spreadsheets. “Tourism must continue to serve as a catalyst for entrepreneurship and economic empowerment, creating opportunities for Caribbean people to derive greater value from the industry and build generational wealth,” Madden-Greig said, adding that the research will supply the data needed to unlock new opportunities for local businesses and strengthen the region’s economic resilience.

CHTA President Sanovnik Destang tied the study to a broader institutional push. He described the work as reinforcing CHTA’s wider vision for a tourism sector that is more inclusive, resilient and sustainable, complementing parallel efforts around workforce development, climate resilience and industry competitiveness, with the aim of keeping more of tourism’s economic benefits within the Caribbean for the long haul.

CHTA CEO Vanessa Ledesma emphasized the practical payoff for hotel operators themselves. Understanding exactly where demand lies and where local or regional sourcing is possible, she noted, can help members control costs while supporting Caribbean producers and reinforcing industry resilience — and she pointed to FIU’s deep regional expertise and research capacity as a natural fit for the partnership.

On the academic side, Michael Cheng, dean of the Chaplin School — ranked the No. 1 hospitality program in Florida — outlined the methodology. The research will blend desk analysis of tourism, trade and investment data with primary field research, including surveys of hotels, restaurants, cruise operators, attractions and tour operators, plus interviews with government ministries, suppliers and investor groups. From there, the team plans to apply a simulation modeling approach, extrapolating from the sampled businesses to build national and regional estimates of tourism demand and spending patterns.

How This Fits Into a Bigger Caribbean Tourism Trend

This study lands at a moment when Caribbean destinations are increasingly competing not just on sun and sand, but on authenticity and sustainability credentials. Compare it to how destinations like Costa Rica have built entire marketing identities around eco-tourism and local sourcing, or how culinary tourism has become a genuine draw in places like Grenada — the “Spice Isle” — where nutmeg, cocoa and rum production are already woven into the visitor experience. The Caribbean, collectively, has an opportunity to formalize and scale that kind of local integration across dozens of islands rather than leaving it to a handful of standout properties.

It also reflects a broader industry-wide reckoning with how tourism revenue is measured. Headline visitor numbers and spending totals make for good press releases, but increasingly, governments and industry groups want to know the net economic impact — what actually stays behind after imports, foreign-owned supply chains and other leakages are accounted for. This FIU-led study is part of that shift toward more granular, actionable tourism economics.

Working alongside CHTA, and with engagement from National Hotel and Tourism Associations and other regional institutions, FIU’s researchers are expected to spend the coming months gathering data across the selected jurisdictions. Once complete, CHTA plans to distribute a final report, executive summary and policy briefs to its members and to regional stakeholders — including governments and development partners — offering data-driven recommendations for expanding local and regional sourcing across the industry.

For travelers, the practical effects of this kind of research tend to show up gradually and quietly: a hotel breakfast menu that leans more heavily on island-grown fruit, a new artisan market partnership at a resort, a tour operator sourcing more excursions from local guides rather than international chains. None of it makes headlines on its own. But collectively, initiatives like this one are what determine whether a Caribbean vacation feels like a genuine encounter with a place — or just a well-appointed transaction that happens to take place there.

As the region’s tourism numbers continue climbing past pre-pandemic highs, the question CHTA and FIU are now trying to answer isn’t whether the Caribbean can attract visitors — it clearly can. It’s whether the islands can hold onto more of what those visitors spend, and turn record-breaking arrival numbers into lasting, broad-based economic gain.

Photo by YesMore Content

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