Perceptions and preparedness of the tourism workers linked to climate change and COVID-19 in Barbados

Abstract

The tourism industry is one of the main economic earners in the Caribbean and such is the same for the island of Barbados. With the focus on sustainable development goals and overall sustainability, tourism sustainability is at the forefront of discussions pertaining to sustainable development. The Tourism Master Plan (2013-2024) has taken it a step further and equated tourism sustainability to environmental sustainability. The aim of this research was therefore to explore the perceptions of workers and stakeholders on tourism sustainability in relation to COVID-19 and climate change, whether factors such as demographics can affect these perceptions and provide informed recommendations based on the results. A mixed-method approach was applied where 403 frontline tourism workers took a virtual survey and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 tourism stakeholders. Key findings indicate that perceptions and awareness on the topics of both climate change and COVID-19 do directly affect levels of preparedness as some responders noted a lack of knowledge on the subjects made them unaware of what to be prepared for. Most of the respondents agreed that climate change increases the probability of extreme weather events. Approximately, 38% showed disagreement that they are preparing to deal with climate change related issues in their work. Regarding to their perception on COVID-19 crisis, more than 50% of the respondents strongly agreed that they are in a high-risk group for COVID-19. Although most of the respondents believe that COVID-19 will continue to have a greater impact on the tourism industry in Barbados than climate change, very few respondents (1-18%) strongly agreed and agreed that they are prepared to deal with COVID-19 pandemic related issues in their work. The results of Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney test found that there were no significant differences between preparedness actions for climate change and COVID-19 with regards to gender and age groups of the respondents. Besides, the key results of stakeholder interviews (n=10) revealed that stakeholders were informed to the extent of knowing the areas that affected their position within the industry directly. Recommendations include policies towards better information dissemination to all involved parties and constant interaction and cooperation. As a small island developing state Barbados has limited resources and opportunities, developing a sustainable tourism industry can serve to foster sustainable development practices in other sectors across the island.