Caribbean Delight: Moving Beyond the Sustainability Discourse in Tourism Carel Roessingh, Hanneke Duijnhoven, Myrte Berendse Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Culture, Organization and Management, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands Abstract Resumen I In the tourism literature a lot of attention is paid to I En la literatura del turismo se presta mucha atención different approaches towards tourism development, a los diferentes acercamientos al desarrollo del turismo, especially when it comes to developing countries. especialmente cuando nos referimos a países en vías de Often it is argued that it is necessary to come to a sus- desarrollo. Se sostiene a menudo que es necesario un tainable approach, whereby it is stressed that attention enfoque basado en la sostenibilidad, por lo cual se should be paid to the way tourism organizations remarca que se preste especial atención a cómo influyen influence (and are influenced by) the natural environ- las organizaciones de turismo (y cómo son influencia- ment as well as the cultural, and economical context in das) tanto por el entorno natural como el cultural y el which they are situated. Although the debates on sus- económico en el que se sitúan. Aunque los debates tainable forms of tourism development are a positive sobre las formas sostenibles de desarrollo turístico son direction for the tourism field, we will argue in this un camino positivo para el sector turístico, en este artí- paper that these debates will not really contribute to culo analizaremos porqué estos debates no contribuirán the progress of the field as long as there is a lack of local realmente al progreso del sector mientras haya una accounts of actors in such tourism destinations. By pre- carencia de agentes locales de tales destinos turísticos. senting empirical data from Belize and the Dominican Presentando datos empíricos sobre Belice y la República Republic, the aim is to move beyond the dominant ‘sus- Dominicana, el objetivo es ir más allá del dominante tainability discourse’ in the field of tourism in which discurso sobre la sostenibilidad en el ámbito turístico, mass-tourism is per definition ‘bad’ and small-scale tou- en el que el turismo de masas es por definición “malo” y rism is ‘good’, and gain an insight into what is actually el turismo a menor escala es “bueno”, y hacer una incur- going on at the micro level. sión en lo que realmente está sucediendo a nivel micro. Key Words: Palabras clave: Belize, the Dominican Republic, Sustainable Tourism, Belice, República Dominicana, turismo sostenible, Micro Perspectives, Local Entrepreneurship perspectivas micro, espíritu emprendedor local Introduction I When it comes to the Caribbean most people think tic vegetation and adventurous caves, it is all about se- about sunny, white beach paradise islands, colourful lling a certain image to attract tourists. cocktails and lively music. By many Western tourists it is seen as a dream destination: a luxury cruise or tropical These images increasingly employ concepts such as ‘sus- beach vacation. However, there is more to the Ca- tainability’, ‘eco-tourism’, or ‘green-tourism’, since there ribbean than this bounty image. In fact, the region is is growing awareness of the costs of tourism when it very diverse and there are many destinations that offer comes to the environment, local cultures and the diffi- more than sun, sea, sand (Roessingh et al., 2005). culties for the local communities to benefit from the tourism industry. Coined with a wider globalization/ What is common for most Caribbean destinations (if not neo-liberal discourse, the international tourism commu- all) is that their tourism industry “is vested in the bran- nity, together with governments of tourism destinations ding and marketing of Paradise” (Sheller, 2004: 23). (especially in the developing world) are actively stimu- Whether beach paradises or Gardens of Eden with exo- lating and promoting alternative forms of tourism that 21 V1.1.2008 Carel Roessingh, Hanneke Duijnhoven, Myrte Berendse are (supposed to be) more sustainable (ecologically, cul- countries are very different when it comes to the size of turally, and economically). Although these attempts cer- the industry and the kind of tourists they attract. With tainly deserve credit, there are some important limita- regard to tourist arrivals (cruise ship arrivals not inclu- tions and problems with this sustainability trend. ded), the Dominican Republic is currently the largest tourist destination in the Caribbean (with 3,965,055 Over the years numerous scholars and practitioners tourist arrivals between January and December 2006) have stated that the concept of sustainable development before Cuba, Jamaica, Cancun (Mexico), Bahamas, and can be applied to all types of tourism development, Puerto Rico (Caribbean Tourism Organization, 2007). activities and environments, regardless the size and scale Belize, in turn, is one of the smallest (partly due to the (Clarke, 1997; Inskeep, 1991; Saarinen, 2006). Never- small size of the country, its dense vegetation, and low theless, the concept of sustainable tourism is, more often level of population), but also one of the fastest growing than not, being attached to specific types of limited size destinations with 247,308 tourist arrivals between tourism, thereby implying that these are ‘better’ than January and December 2006 and 655,931 cruise ship conventional forms of tourism or better yet, ‘mass’ arrivals (Caribbean Tourism Organization, 2007). tourism (Butcher, 2003). According to Fennel (1999: 9) alternative tourism is “a generic term that encompasses While the Dominican Republic attracts mainly mass- a whole range of tourism strategies (e.g. ‘appropriate’, tourists seeking the famous sun-sea-sand vacations, ‘eco’, ‘soft’, ‘responsible’, ‘people to people’, ‘controlled’, Belize’s tourism industry is mainly aimed at ‘alternative’ ‘small scale’, ‘cottage’ and ‘green’ tourism) all of which ways of attracting tourists, by offering all sorts of adven- purport to offer a more benign alternative to conven- tures and small-scale accommodations. Although there tional mass tourism”. Brohman (1996: 63) even argues are certain areas that could be classified as sun, sea, sand that “the concept of alternative tourism has emerged as areas (for example San Pedro and Placencia at the one of the most widely used (and abused) phrases in the Caribbean coast), generally the Belizean tourism indus- tourism literature” as it has come to “mean almost any- try might be better summarized by ‘three Rs’ thing that can be juxtaposed to conventional mass tou- (Blackstone Corporation, 1998: 1-3) than the famous rism”. On the whole, those types of tourism are expec- Caribbean ‘three Ss’, since ‘rainforest, reef and ruins’ ted to be devoid of the assumed detrimental effects of better encompass the Belizean tourism assets than ‘sun, most forms of mass tourism, which is often foreign con- sand and sea’. trolled, enclavic, unplanned, short-term, culturally destructive and environmentally unsustainable (Broh- The specific focus of this article is twofold. First it aims man, 1996: 66). to describe the situation these two countries find them- selves in, operating in specific sectors of the tourism Definitions of sustainable tourism within the academic industry but both at a turning point in the process of literature are manifold, as it was generally assumed that development. The Dominican Republic has a well-es- sustainable tourism could only be achieved after gaining tablished tourism industry, but few expansion possibili- understanding of what the concept actually means ties, while Belize finds itself between two markets: (Garrod & Fyall, 1998). Those descriptive attempts have involving small-scale nature and adventure tourism and been followed by numerous prescriptive models of good the increasing popularity of cruise tourism. The article practice. Less attention has been paid to a critical analy- concentrates on observations of everyday experiences in sis of issues of sustainability and tourism within practice two apparently different countries, in order to learn (Mowforth & Munt, 2003). Stronza adds to this that about how the concept of tourism is being shaped in although anthropological studies in tourism include daily practice. Second, the article focuses on the way “excellent descriptions of what can go wrong when people who work in the tourist industry, such as entre- tourism is introduced into local communities, the analy- preneurs or tour guides, reflect on matters as tourists, sis so far has been strangely devoid of local voices” and local participation, foreign investments, sustainability, therefore “we have learned relatively little about how and the way the government deals with these matters. locals themselves perceive the array of pros and cons The data presented in this article are the result of ethno- associated with tourism” (Stronza, 2001: 269). This graphic research conducted in the Puerto Plata region seems odd, since one of the central aspects of sustaina- fr om August 2003 until February 2004, and various ble tourism is said to be the way the local community of ethnographic research projects conducted in Belize destinations is able to take part in and reap the opportu- between 2003 and 2006. In most of these projects, the nities that are created through tourism development. focus was on the micro-stories of a specific group of people, such as small-entrepreneurs, local hotel-owners, In this article, we aim to shed a light on the perceptions tour-guides, etc. In all cases, the researcher spent a sig- of the local people involved in tourism in two different nificant period amongst the research population in their destinations in the Caribbean Basin, Belize and the everyday settings, employing a combination of several Dominican Republic. Both countries, like most Cari- qualitative research methods. These include (but are not bbean countries, have a high dependency on the tourism limited to) participant observations, interviews with all industry. A large part of the local workforce is directly or kinds of stakeholders, numerous more or less informal indirectly involved with tourism. However the two conversations, and document analysis.