The Caribbean is a collection of 7,000 islands, islets and cays with only around 10% of them populated. Known for its paradise beaches, tropical storms and year round sunshine, the region has enjoyed cult status as a luxury holiday destination for Europeans and Americans alike since well before the Second World War. 

Now with the much broader popularity of long distance travel to exotic locations to escape the snow and rain, the populated islands are steadily moving from a farming-led economy to a service-led economy driven by tourism.

The Caribbean islands were discovered by Columbus in 1492, believing the region to be the west coast of India, hence the alternative name of the West Indies. Over the last century the gradual and generally peaceful move from colonialism to independence has been a success and allowed indigenous cultures to blossom giving us the wonderful variety across the islands that we see today. WHat is common is the spectacular scenery, paradise beaches and a warm welcome to visitors.  

Climate

The islands are spread over a million square miles of the Caribbean Sea, so the climate of the region unsurprisingly has a great deal of diversity. As a whole, the climate of the region is tropical but rainfall varies with elevation, size and water currents. The northern tip of the Caribbean lies on the Tropic of Cancer with the majority falling between this and the Equator.

Tourism

The welcome received by visitors is as warm as the climate. This anecdotal statement is backed up by hard figures. In a recent survey on some of the islands, around 80% of the locals said they were very happy to see tourists on their islands. This compares rather favourably to say London, Paris or New York for example!

Within the Caribbean as a whole, in the last 20 years, according to the Caribbean Tourism Organisation, tourist arrivals to the region have increased from 12 million to 22.1 million – an 84% increase.

Economic Factors

The importance of tourism to the future success of the Caribbean economies was recently highlighted by the president of the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association who launched a “Tourism is Key” campaign highlighting for each economy in the Caribbean the impact of tourism upon jobs, the wider economy and future investment.

Property Market

For the overseas investor, the vast majority of property purchases are as second homes, holiday homes, or increasingly as investments in resort hotel villas and apartments, where the property is kept and maintained on the investors’ behalf as a commercial enterprise allowing the owner to draw down a (usually) very good income when not using it for pleasure.