360° Resilience: A guide to prepare the Caribbean for a new generation of shocks

This report provides a summary of main findings from the Firm Resilience Survey which collected data from 1413 firms in the tourism industry in 13 Caribbean countries between March-November 2020. The data collection's objective is to better understand how natural hazards affect the tourism industry in the Caribbean. The survey collected information from private businesses focusing on independence on and reliability of critical and non-critical infrastructure, suppliers and supply chain disruptions, impacts of recent disasters – coping and long-term effects, and firm-level preparedness and management of shocks and interruptions caused by natural hazards.

The report finds that despite the enormous challenges posed by natural hazards, 63 percent of firms report that the number of visitors has still increased over the past decade and 16 percent think that there are plenty of opportunities for growth in the current environment. Firms are aware of disaster risks and are prepared to manage and cope with natural hazards. Almost all firms feel at least somewhat prepared to cope with a disaster and all firms have taken preparedness action. Most firms own insurance and have invested in backup infrastructure to mitigate sales losses from disruptions and have improved physical structure to mitigate asset losses.