For the past 30 years I’ve been a photographer working in and around the Caribbean, particularly in the Dominican Republic.

Having well over 7 million tourists per year, the Dominican Republic has a big piece of the almost 30 million tourists that visit the Caribbean. So it is a very important Caribbean destination indeed.

For the most part, Caribbean visitors come from the US, Canada Europe, and the United Kingdom. Altogether they contribute more than 37 billion to the Caribbean economy. This of course includes cruise passengers.

The most visited countries in the Caribbean are the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Jamaica, Bahamas, and Puerto Rico. In all, tourism in the Caribbean grew about 4.4% in 2019 despite the very strange media reports about deaths in the Dominican Republic, the main Caribbean Island.

Having still not gotten over the Covid19 impact (as of July 06, 2020), it is right now hard to have specific tourism data but the numbers don’t look good at all. All Caribbean countries have locked down and many lost the first 6-7 months of the 2020 calendar. Caribbean Islands still have to go through the hurricane season son that is something to think about.

For the most part, 2020 will be a year to forget overall, but also a year to reflect upon. Rethinking tourism, rethinking services and protocols are now important and should be the new normal at least until the world gets out of the Coronavirus.

Thiago da Cunha