BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - A top official of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says tourism in the Caribbean and Barbados could be hit hard if the shutdown of the United States government, now in its second week, drags on.
Thomas Helbling, advisor to the IMF’s research department, told the MIDWEK NATION yesterday that once consumers in the United States become more constrained than they have been in the current global economic crisis, they may only spend on essentials and cause destinations like Barbados to lose more valuable tourist dollars. The United States and Canada are second only to Europe as Barbados’ main tourist markets.