Abstract
While the world’s attention is on dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change remains a greater existential threat to vulnerable countries that are highly dependent on a weather-sensitive sector like tourism. Using a multidimensional index, this study investigates the long-term impact of climate change vulnerability on international tourism in a panel of 15 Caribbean countries over the period 1995–2017. Empirical results show that climate vulnerability already has a statistically and economically significant negative effect on international tourism revenues across the region. As extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and severe over time, our findings indicate that the Caribbean countries need to invest more in adaptation and mitigation in order to reduce vulnerabilities.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the editor and two anonymous referees for their insightful comments that led to marked improvements in the paper. An earlier version of this article benefited from comments and suggestions by Sebastian Acevedo, Bas Bakker, Oya Celasun, Wei Guo, Nicole Laframboise, Adil Mohommad, Inci Otker, Etienne Yehoue, and Jeromin Zettelmeyer for insightful comments and suggestions. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the IMF, its Executive Board, or its management.
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