Prelims

Half Title Page

Pandemics, Disasters, Sustainability, Tourism

Title Page

Pandemics, Disasters, Sustainability, Tourism: An Examination of Impact on and Resilience in Caribbean Small Island Developing States

Edited by

Ian Bethell-Bennett

University of The Bahamas, The Bahamas

Sophia A. Rolle

University of The Bahamas, The Bahamas

Jessica Minnis

University of The Bahamas, The Bahamas

And

Fevzi Okumus

University of Central Florida, USA

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2022

Editorial matter and selection © 2022 Ian Bethell-Bennett, Sophia A. Rolle, Jessica Minnis and Fevzi Okumus.

Individual chapters © 2022 The authors.

Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.

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Contact: permissions@emeraldinsight.com

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters' suitability and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-80382-106-1 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-80382-105-4 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-80382-107-8 (Epub)

List of Figures and Tables

List of Abbreviations

BEST

The Bahamas Environment, Science & Technology Commission

BNT

Bahamas National Trust

BTC

Bahamas Tourism Cooperation

CARE

COVID-19 Allocation of Resources for Employees

CARICOM

Caribbean Community

CAST

Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism

CBOs

Community-based Organizations

CBT

Community-based Tourism

CDC

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

CEPAL

La Comisión Económica para América Latina

CERMES

Center for Resource Management and Environmental Studies

CHTA

Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association

CNBC

Cable News Broadcasting Corporation

COVID-19

Coronavirus Disease

CRFM

Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism

CT

Collaboration Theory

DCNA

Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance

DMOs

Destination Management Organizations

ECLAC

Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean

FDI

Foreign Direct Investment

GBI

Grand Bahama Island

GBPA

Grand Bahama Port Authority

GCF

Green Climate Fund

GCFI

Gulf Caribbean Fisheries Institute

GDP

Gross Domestic Product

GEF SGP

Global Environment Facility, Small Grants Program

GEO Blue Planet

Group on Earth Observations Blue Planet

GHGs

Greenhouse Gasses

GOOS

Global Ocean Observing System

HCA

Hawksbill Creek Agreement

IAD

Institutional Analysis and Development

IATA

International Air Transport Association

ICAO

International Civil Aviation Organization

IDB

Inter-American Development Bank

ILO

International Labor Organization

IMF

International Monetary Fund

IPCC

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

ITour

Island Tourism

JMD

Jamaican Dollar

JR

Job Retention

JTB

Jamaica Tourist Board

MDPMR

Ministry of Disaster Preparedness, Management and Reconstruction

MLP

Multilevel Perspective

MSMEs

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

NASA.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NCCC

National Policy for the Adaptation to Climate Change

NGOs

Nongovernment Organizations

NPIs

Nonpharmaceutical Interventions

ODA

Official Development Assistance

OECD

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

PAHO

Pan American Health Organization

PROBLUE

Blue Economy Program (World Bank)

SARIMA

Seasonal Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average

SaWS

Sargassum Watch System

SDGs

Sustainable Development Goals

SEAS

Sargassum Early Advisory System

SEM

Socioeconomic Metabolism Model

SET

Supporting Employees with Transfer of cash

SHS

State Hope Scale

SIDS

Small Island Developing States

SITour

Sustainable Island Tourism

SLR

Sea-Level Rise

SPAW-RAC

Specially Protected Area and Wildlife-Regional Activity Center

SPSS

Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

SWOT

Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats

Texas A&M

Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University

TICDMF

Tourism Industry Crisis and Disaster Management Framework

TMC

Transition Model Canvas

TNC

The Nature Conservancy

TOURS

Tourism Recovery Scorecard

UN

United Nations

UNCTAD

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

UNDP

United Nations Development Plan

UNDRR

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction

UNEP

United Nations Environmental Program

UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

UNFCCC

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

UNWTO

United Nations World Tourism Organization

USA

United States of America

USD

United States Dollar

USGS

United States Geological Survey

US NASA

United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Utech

University of Technology

UWI

University of the West Indies

WGI

Worldwide Governance Indicator

WHO

World Health Organization

WTO

World Tourism Organization

WTTC

World Travel and Tourism Council

About the Editors

Ian Bethell-Bennett, PhD, is an Associate Professor and former dean of Liberal and Fine Arts at the University of The Bahamas. He holds degrees in Trade Policy, Cultural Studies, English, and Spanish. His research interests include gender in development and migration. His recent publications focus on unequal development in the Caribbean, particularly in The Bahamas and Puerto Rico where resorts take over land and disenfranchise locals.

He writes on art and culture and has participated in NE7 and NE8 as well as in 2018 Double Dutch Hot Water with Plastico Fantastico as a part of the Expo 2020 collective. He works around Haitian and Cuban migration to and through The Bahamas and is currently working on a project on Statelessness in The Bahamas. He writes in the daily newspapers on gender and development. He is a member of DESDEMOS, West Indian Literature Conference Organization, and Caribbean Studies Association.

Dr Sophia A. Rolle is a well-respected and highly sought-after resource in the areas of sustainable tourism development, education, and research, both locally and internationally. She holds four earned degrees in the areas of Hotel Management, Business Management, Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management, and Family and Consumer Sciences Education with emphasis in Tourism Management.

Professionally, Dr Rolle has kept busy in the world of academia and industry – researching, teaching, and consulting over various pedagogical areas of tourism development and its impact on Small Island Developing States (SIDS), such as The Bahamas. She is also the proud recipient of a plethora of distinguished scholarly certifications, awards, and accolades including the prestigious Cacique Award for Human Resources Development presented to her in 2005 by The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism. Besides teaching and research, Dr Rolle was recommended by the Governor General for the Commonwealth of The Bahamas to serve in the capacity as Justice of the Peace for the entire Bahamas. She maintains active affiliations with many local and international organizations and is a board member for the Governor General Youth Awards; a founding director of Friends of The Arts; member of the Rotary Club of Nassau Sunrise, and lifetime member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. Sophia is an accomplished Fine Artist and owner of the Villa Gemella Art House and Gallery located in Nassau, The Bahamas.

Jessica Minnis is a Professor in the School of Social Sciences and Coordinator of the Sociology program at the University of The Bahamas. She has collaborated with several faculty members locally and internationally on several projects and papers related to marine protected areas, male underachievement, school-based sexual behavior studies, community service, family, the profile of sentenced inmates, and currently tourism and tourism development on small island states. She is also coeditor of the book Junkanoo & Religion and coeditor of the book Tourism, Governance and Sustainability in The Bahamas.

She was a member of the National Crime Commission and Steering Committee-Strategic manpower review of the Police Force and member of the Faculty Senate, University of The Bahamas. She is a member of DESDEMOS, the GEF Small Grants Project, The Bahamas, and Empty Bowls Bahamas.

Fevzi Okumus, PhD, is the CFHLA Preeminent Chair Professor within the Hospitality Services Department at the University of Central Florida's Rosen College of Hospitality Management. He joined Rosen College in 2005. He was the founding Chair of the Hospitality Services Department from 2007 to 2013.

He received his PhD in Strategic Hotel Management from Oxford Brookes University, UK. He has a Master of Science degree in International Hotel Management from Oxford Brookes University, UK, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Hospitality and Tourism from Cukurova University, Turkey. He worked in the hotel industry in various functional areas and roles before becoming an educator.

Dr Okumus' teaching and consultancy areas include strategic management, leadership development, hotel/lodging management, generational differences, cross-cultural management, international hospitality management, and introduction to hospitality and tourism. His research areas include competitive advantage, sustainability and green practices, strategy implementation, knowledge management, hotel/lodging management, crisis management, destination marketing, information technology, and developing countries.

Dr Okumus has widely published in leading journals, including Tourism Management, Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Business Research, Service Industries Journal, Management Decision, International Journal of Hospitality Management, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, and Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research. He has over 250 academic publications (over 150 refereed journal articles, three books, 12 book chapters, and 90 conference presentations and reports). According to Google Scholar, as of September 1, 2020, his publications have received over 10,300 citations and he has an h-index of 50. He chaired/cochaired and served on numerous PhD dissertation and master thesis committees. He secured competitive grants, contracts, and scholarships totaling an amount of $500.000.

He is the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (IJCHM), which has an impact factor of 5.667 and is one of the leading journals in the hospitality and tourism field. He is also the Editor of the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights. He serves on the editorial boards of 26 international journals. He is a frequent speaker at international conferences. He is a Visiting Professor at San Yet Sen University's Business School in Guangzhou, China, and Visiting Chair Professor at the National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism.

Recognizing his contributions and accomplishments, Dr Okumus has received numerous highly prestigious awards and recognitions including “The Michael D. Olsen Research Award” in 2016; “The University of Central Florida Scroll & Quill Society Award” in 2017 and the “CFHLA Preeminent Chair Professor” again in 2017; and “The John Wiley & Sons Lifetime Research Achievement Award” from ICHRIE in 2018. He was also recognized and honored for his accomplishments at the University of Central Florida's Board of Trustees Recognition ceremony on November 19, 2018.

About the Contributors

Eboni D. Adderley, MSc, is an alumna of Iowa State University and The Ohio State University. She has earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science as well as a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership. Her research focuses on building community food capacity and resilience. She currently serves as a Research Coordinator and Lecturer at The Bahamas Agricultural and Marine Science Institute, Andros, The Bahamas.

Fenda A. Akiwumi Department of Geography, Environmental Science and Policy, School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA.

Jamie-Lee Bassan is a final-year undergraduate student in the Department of Geography and Geology, University of the West Indies (UWI) pursuing a BSc in Geography (Major) and Geology (Minor). Her research interests lie at the intersection of human and environmental systems.

Olivene Burke, PhD, is the Executive Director of the Mona Social Services, UWI, and a Justice of the peace in Jamaica. She has joined her academic work to her passion for people development and utilized her skills as a lecturer in Transformational Leadership and Human Resource Management at the postgraduate level, to change lives in underserved communities. Dr Burke is well known and respected as a community development specialist, leader, and project manager, whose research interest centers around education, quality assurance, leadership, community development, and sports. She has authored several publications. Her most recent are: A Case Study of a Leadership Approach of Transforming Basic Schools to Flourishing Schools in Urban Inner-city Communities in Jamaica (2021); Community Football in the Violence Reduction Response for a Jamaican Community (2020); and Football, Culture and Community Development in August Town (2015. Dr Burke was the recipient of three prestigious awards in 2020: The Governor General Achievement and Leadership Award, Anthony N. Sabga Caribbean Award for Public and Civic Contributions, and Vice Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Contribution to Public Service.

Joshua Carroll, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Recreation, Parks, and Tourism at Radford University. His teaching and research focus on sustainable, nature-based tourism, and how this can be used as a pathway toward positive community and economic development as well as ecological integrity. He has worked on many projects with agencies and organizations such as the US National Park Service, US Forest Service, State Parks, various beach communities, and river systems. His work has made valuable contributions in several locations such as New England, California, Colorado, The Bahamas, Virginia, and Alaska.

Robert Kinlocke, PhD, is a Lecturer in the Department of Geography and Geology at the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. His research and teaching interests center on Urban Planning and Geographic Information Systems.

Kenyon C. Lindeman is a faculty member in the Department of Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida, USA

Aleem Mahabir is currently a PhD candidate at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, Jamaica. His research interests lie at the intersection of Social Geography and Psychology. His current work focuses on the link among hope(lessness), exclusion, and underdevelopment in marginalized inner-city communities in Caribbean cities.

Michelle McLeod, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Jamaica. Her tourism industry experience spans over 30 years. Her research interests include knowledge networks, destination and policy networks, and service productivity. Dr McLeod's two coedited books are Knowledge Networks and Tourism and Tourism Management in Warm-water Island Destinations. Dr McLeod received the Principal's Award for the Research Project with Greatest Economic Impact for the Faculty of Social Sciences for the project entitled “Open Data and Interactive Community Mapping: Empowering Local Community Tourism” in 2018, the Principal's Award for Research Project Attracting the Most Research Funds in the Faculty of Social Sciences for the project entitled “Harnessing Open Data to Achieve Development Results in Latin America and the Caribbean” in 2016, Best Researcher in the Mona School of Business and Management in 2016, the Institute of Travel and Tourism, PhD Research Student of the Year in 2010, and the UKAIS (United Kingdom Academy of Information Systems) PhD Consortium, Winner of PhD Consortium Best Presentation Prize in April 2008.

Phillip McNeil is associated with the Joseph R. Biden Jr School of Public Policy and Administration, University of Delaware, Newark, United States.

Jarda Nelson is a final-year undergraduate student in the Department of Geography and Geology, University of the West Indies (UWI), pursuing a BSc in Geography (major) and Management Studies (Minor). She is a Jamaican Exhibition Scholar whose research interests revolve around climate change, tourism, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

Arsum Pathak, PhD, is corresponding author and Professor in the Department of Geography, Environmental Science and Policy, School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA.

Kalim Shah, PhD, is a recognized expert on public policy, regulation, and governance in small island jurisdictions. As an institutional theorist, his research addresses science-based policy and regulatory design and administration for climate change, pollution prevention, clean technology, industrialization, and sustainable production and consumption. His new work is on the effectiveness of tools such as technology needs assessments and regulatory impact assessments for informing policy decisions.

He is currently Director of the Island Policy Lab and a Professor of Energy and Environmental Policy and the Joseph R. Biden Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration, University of Delaware. He has also held faculty posts at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, and the University of Trinidad and Tobago in his country of origin.

Rose-Ann Smith, PhD, is a Lecturer at the Department of Geography and Geology at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Jamaica. Her broad research interests include Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change Adaptation, and Sustainable Livelihoods. More specifically, her research examines how social vulnerability exacerbates disaster risks including climate risks across different social groups and how these groups navigate these challenges.

Michael T. Stevenson, MA, holds a LLB degree (Honors) from the University of Warwick, England, and a Master's Degree in Socio-Legal Studies from the University of Sheffield. M. Stevenson is Associate Professor in the Law Department, University of The Bahamas (UB). He teaches and conducts research in the areas of constitutional law, public administrative law, human rights, jurisprudence, criminology, sustainability law and policy, and law and society. He has written numerous articles, papers, and reports, and continues to teach Constitutional Law, Public Law, Commonwealth Caribbean Human Rights, and Jurisprudence at UB. His research focuses on the relation between law, society, and discourse. He has served on a number of national committees and commissions, the latest being the National Constitutional Reform Commission.

John N. Telesford, DBA, is a Lecturer and Associate Dean in the School of Continuing Education at the T.A. Marryshow Community College (TAMCC), Grenada, and a Research Associate with the Institute of Island Studies, University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI), Canada. His academic and practical research is in the sustainable development of islands, especially in the Caribbean. From this perspective, he has applied tools and concepts from industrial ecology into the field of tourism for his doctoral thesis. Between 2019 and 2022, he served as a Coinvestigator and Principal Researcher for Grenada, on the global project titled: “sustainable island futures,” with a focus on sustainable tourism in islands. He is also a member of the Metabolism of Islands group, a research community that looks at island development from physical resources perspectives. He also focuses on the implementation of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) on islands. John has published in journals such as: Sustainability; Sustainable Development; Resources, Conservation and Recycling; Journal of Industrial Ecology and Island Studies Journal. He has chapters in the books: Archipelago Tourism: Policy and Practice (ed. Baldacchino, Ashgate, 2015), and Small Island Developing States: Vulnerability and Resilience Under Climate Change (ed. Moncada et al. 2021). John also wrote the piece on the impacts of COVID-19 on Grenada for the Global project: COVID-19 Island Insights Series.

O. A. Carey Turnquest, MBA, serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of The Bahamas. He has over a decade of experience in the hospitality and tourism sector and holds an executive position in a leading resort in The Bahamas. He is a member of the Young Leaders Forum in the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), a selected group of hoteliers from around the region under the age of 45. Mr. Turnquest holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) with honors from Brown University and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Liverpool.

Philip E. Van Beynen is part of the Department of Geography, Environmental Science and Policy, School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33,620, USA.

Shinique Walters holds a PhD from the Department of Government, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. She obtained a Master's Degree in Gender and Development Studies and a BSC in International Relations (major) Culture Studies and Political Science (minors). She has worked in the areas of Project Management, Institutional Research, Monitoring and Evaluation, and Event Management. Walters is a Lecturer with the Department of Government and Research Fellow at the Center for Leadership and Government. She has worked on several international, regional, and local projects that have contributed to both local and regional development. She has also published several reports and academic papers. Her most recent Book is titled International Aid Under the Microscope: European Union Project Cycle Management in Jamaica.

Foreword

The timing of the publication of Pandemics, disasters, sustainability, tourism: An examination of impact on and resilience in Caribbean small island developing states is opportune, coming on the heels of two mega crises that have impacted our nation, region, and wider world, namely the historically devastating Hurricane Dorian of 2019 and the COVID-19 pandemic, the latter of which, at the time of publication, though in regression, is still very much with us.

I take this opportunity to congratulate and commend the powerhouse team of four professors/editors from The University of The Bahamas and Florida International University – Dr Ian Bethel, Ms. Jessica Minnis, Dr Sophia Rolle, and Dr Fevzi Okumus – for assembling this collection of scholarly research on the impact of the recent disasters, hurricanes, pandemic, and environmental threats induced by climate change that have afflicted the nations of the Caribbean region. In the arena of this university textbook, these educators, along with the host of expert contributors, bring sharp focus to the recent crises that have confronted us as a region; they examine the socioeconomic impact on our citizens and open engaging discussion on the way forward to resilience and sustainability.

Given the relevancy of the topics to the present and foreseeable future of our region, this textbook will, no doubt, enjoy a lengthy shelf life. The content of this textbook concerns each and every citizen among the 44 million population of the Caribbean. As such, it is of keen interest and will engage a wide audience: students, educators, policy makers, economists, and members of the general public.

This textbook is replete with real-life case studies of the impact of hurricanes, the COVID-19 pandemic, and natural disasters caused by climate change – from the devastation assailed by Hurricane Dorian on The Bahamas' two northern islands, Abaco and Grand Bahama; to the pandemic-inflicted economic distress of accommodations workers in Jamaica to the impact of sargassum on the tourism industry in Barbados. The scope of content of this publication makes it ideal for adoption as a mandatory textbook in tourism and sustainability courses of tertiary institutions across the Caribbean.

In my estimation, the key appeal of this publication lies in its ability to create and promote awareness of the threats of natural disasters that we face in the region. It equips us with knowledge of our vulnerability as a small island developing state. Given our geography, we have always been vulnerable to Atlantic hurricanes, a threat which has been magnified in recent times by climate change. Climate change not only intensifies the formation of hurricanes but also ushers in brand new threats: rising sea levels, sargassum, and the death of marine life that is critical to the livelihoods of people on so many of our islands.

The tone of this textbook inspires a refreshing sense of hopefulness as the content recommends approaches and strategies to laying policy frameworks for sustainability and building resilience in the face of threats.

As a region, we face a future of uncertainty, but we remain undaunted. Our small developing states have been left to grapple with challenges brought about by the runaway carbon emissions produced by the giant economies of the developed nations. At the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) held in Glasgow, Scotland, we watched with pride and admiration as our Caribbean leaders challenged developed countries to up the ante on reducing climate change.

As we wait for a more intentional and robust response from the developed nations, we, small island developing states of the Caribbean, must get on with our agenda to do our part to reduce climate change. The textbook that you hold in your hand shows how to make adaptations to contribute to a more sustainable lifestyle that will contribute in meaningful ways to positively address climate change.

Whether it is meeting targets set to reduce use of fossil fuels, implementing more stringent building codes, conducting tourism activity according to internationally accepted standards of sustainability, increasing our regional collective fund to assist sister nations with disaster relief, or stepping up our public awareness campaigns to promote sustainable lifestyles in all of our islands across the Caribbean, this textbook engages readers in mapping out solutions and strategies to address the potential crises our region faces in the foreseeable future.

The principal tertiary institutions of a country play a crucial role in national development. In the case of young developing nations such as ours in the Caribbean, the role of the university is even more critical. The university is an institution that serves as a catalyst for change. It leads the way in opening and moderating the national conversations that must be had to address the issues that impact the welfare of the citizenry. Today, in the Caribbean, there is no issue more urgent than climate change and the disasters and crises that it can potentially engender.

On behalf of the Government and People of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, I extend sincere thanks to The University of The Bahamas for the collaborative effort led by its three professors, in conjunction with Florida International University, to produce a signature textbook that will prove to be a highly useful tool in preparing the upcoming generation to stage an effective counteroffensive of readiness and resilience in the face of the eventuality of natural disasters.

Editors and contributors, congratulations, again, on a well-executed textbook and guide to sustainability and resilience.

The Honourable I. Chester Cooper, M.P.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism, Investments & Aviation Commonwealth of The Bahamas

Acknowledgments

This text would not have been possible had it not been for the hard work, dedication, and professionalism of each contributing author. Each author provided rich perspectives regarding the region's battle with natural disasters and the current COVID-19 pandemic. We are deeply indebted to you all. We are especially thankful to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism and Aviation, Honorable I. Chester Cooper, for his contributions to the Foreword. We give a special thanks to the University of The Bahamas, Fiona, and her editorial team at Emerald for their advice and support for and throughout this publication. Finally, we are grateful for having such a fertile landscape in which to write such a text. The Caribbean consisting of its many Islands and Cays provided an opportunity to the researchers to delve into the diversity of life and environment in the region. We are very happy to have written it for scholars, enthusiasts, and others interested in the study of tourism.

Dr Ian Bethell-Bennett

I wish to thank my family and friends who journeyed with me through this project. My wife and children have been tremendous. Appreciation to my professional mentors, two of whom I met in my twenties and who have become more than professional mentors, who continue to quietly encourage me to strive and to achieve with this project. To our kitchen table crew who may be physically dispersed now, but remain spiritually united, thank you. We energize and empower one another. Thanks to Sophia and Jessica for their tireless work to bring this project to fruition, and to Fevzi Okumus for his eagle-eyed clarity. Thanks also to those who served as peer reviewers. Thanks also to my family from my old Department for all their camaraderie and encouragement.

Dr Sophia A. Rolle

I would like to dedicate my contributions to this book to my mother Helen Hutcherson. She was with me at the beginning of this journey but suffered a massive setback on February 14, 2021. To date, I have not been able to share with her the good news of the completion of the publication, as she remains in a coma. I know that she has guided my thoughts throughout this journey.

I also wish to thank my daughter Eboni D. Adderley and Mrs. Sheena Newton for their editorial expertise. My colleagues all benefited from your assistance.

I once again would like to thank Jessica Minnis and Ian Bethell-Bennett for believing that we could produce another textbook and that we can create a further dent in the paucity of scholarly works coming out of the Caribbean. Thank you Fevzi Okumus for agreeing so readily to join our editorial team. You brought a particular challenge and flavor to our team for which we all benefited. Thank you all.

Jessica Minnis

By HIS GRACE. I wish to thank my family and friends for their encouragement and a listening ear when I had the zoomies and my constant chatter about me coediting this book. You can now rest in peace. I want to thank Gina Carey, Sandra Phillip-Burrows and Christopher Curry, and Eboni Adderley for graciously saving my eyes.

A special thanks to the earth sustainability fan club, Sophia Rolle, and Ian Bethell-Bennett. Through our discussions and experiences with hurricanes and the current COVID-19 pandemic impacting our country and region in so many ways, thought it important for us to edit another textbook focusing on these issues and ways to sustain our beautiful region and where we call home. I hope readers will find the book instructive. I wish to thank the University of The Bahamas who reminds us to publish and be interdisciplinary. I am happy to thank Fevzi Okumus for being a part of the editorial team and willingly incorporating your knowledge and expertise on the tourism and hospitality industry to make this publication a reality. Thanks all for keeping the Caribbean region ever in focus.

Fevzi Okumus

I would like to thank my coeditors, Ian Bethell-Bennett, Sophia Rolle, and Jessica Minnis for inviting me to join this meaningful project. Special thanks to all the authors and reviewers for their contribution to this valuable edited book. Crises and disasters negatively affect destinations. However, destinations in developing countries and islands are more negatively affected by crises and disasters. Sadly, such destinations also appear to face more crises and disasters. I hope that this much needed edited book can help destinations in the Caribbean region and similar regions to better prepare, respond to, and manage possible future crises and disasters.