Caribbean nations face economic setbacks as Iran conflict continues

Added: 2026-05-21

[00:00:00]The Caribbean region is known as a zone of peace with its tranquil waters, white sand, and laid-back culture. But, a war more than 10,000 km away could disrupt their economies if the price for oil continues to increase. Since the start of the Iran war, the price of Brent crude has surged nearly 50% prompting airlines to find creative ways to pass the cost on to passengers. The impacts are I think they are unfolding in stages. In the first place, when the the uncertainty or the disturbance occurred in the in the in the Middle Eastern region, it actually cut the supply to some extent to the Pacific and people started to look at the region in particular. We amplified our marketing presence to ensure that when people are looking for options and places to rebook, that St. Lucia would turn up, you know, and we've actually seen some of that result.

[00:00:52]During the International Monetary Fund's spring meeting, the IMF expressed concerns for Caribbean tourism, warning that it could see a decline as ticket prices increase. Second thing is that if the conflict continues as a prolonged activity, we anticipate that it could impact us and we'd have to diversify from our major source markets. And it's the reason why we are looking at Latin America. But, some of the region's top tourism officials are seeing positive signs this week at the 44th Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association's conference. The region is coming off another successful year where tourism arrivals grew by 2.5% adding an additional 900,000 visitors over 2024.

[00:01:34]has been witnessing a very >> [music] >> good winter season and I have no doubt whatsoever that the forecasts that we have for the summer will continue. With the Caribbean being an import-dependent region, concerns are mounting that higher prices in the United States could trigger inflationary pressures, including within the tourism sector. In St. Lucia, we just saw the cost of energy increase about 20% and that's having an impact now going into the summer when our rates are lower.

[00:02:05]It really just points to the importance of us building a bit more resilience into Caribbean tourism. Jermaine Abel, CGTN, St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda.