Heritage tourism as a revitalization strategy in Antigua, West Indies

In the past 30 to 40 years, tourism has become a popular strategy among governments and communities throughout the world for increasing development. While this strategy does generally achieve increased economic development, it also brings negative impacts to the destinations, many of which the places are unequipped to handle. In Antigua and Barbuda, West Indies the predominance of cruise ship tourism is placing a significant strain on the community and its resources, and yet returning less revenue each year. This thesis investigates current efforts of community leaders to promote heritage tourism as a sustainable means for rejuvenating Antigua's tourism industry. I worked with local community leaders, using participatory research techniques, to construct questionnaires, which I then administered to tourists (cruise ship passengers and resort hotel guests) and residents in Antigua. The tourist questionnaires were designed to gauge current participation in heritage tourism and the potential for future participation in heritage tourism, while the resident questionnaires were designed to collect resident attitudes toward tourism, and to solicit potential solutions to its current decline. The research results indicate that stay-over visitors are better candidates for heritage tourism participation. The results further indicate that indirect marketing of Antigua's historic sites to cruise-ship passengers to encourage their return as hotel guests is roundabout and counterproductive. The results of the resident survey reveal that most Antiguan residents hold the government responsible for reversing the tourism decline. Because the government and Ministry of Tourism are currently supportive of cruise-based tourism, efforts to successfully develop Antigua as a heritage tourism destination will be difficult without significant pressure from the community. This case study is presented not only as a guide for Antigua's tourism planners and developers, but also for any small place that seeks to redefine tourism in its community.