Authorities in Barbados and the rest of the region are being advised to stop putting all their eggs in the tourism basket and diversify their economies in line with global changes if they want to survive.Principals of Upturn Funds Caribbean (UFC) offered that guidance during the venture capital firm’s inaugural investment summit on Thursday at the Barbados Hilton Resort.“Tourism is something that no longer works in this region,” said UFC co-founder and chairman Raphael D’angelis.“There are way better markets [that are] more fit to be a more aggressive competitor in the tourism arena than many countries in the Caribbean. But we know that if we integrate the region, bring the region closer together we have a shot here in actually creating economic prosperity on a level never seen before.”“We base this not only on the fact that we want to integrate. We actually went through many studies in many different regions around the world to show the average growth that that integration can generate,” he added.
