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191 

Tourism as a Neo-colonial Phenomenon: 

Examining the Works of Pattullo & Mullings 

Tammy Ronique Williams 
 
 
The Caribbean is a region deeply rooted in mass 

exploitation; it is commonly associated with single-crop agricultural 
production for North American and European markets (sugar, 
bananas, nutmeg etc). Despite its geographic and demographic 
diversity, Polly Pattullo suggests that its historical background 
(moulded by slavery, colonialism and the plantation) is reflected in 
its people: the indigenous (and now almost extinct) Amerindian, 
European colonizer, settler and adventurer, African slave, 
indentured East Indian, labouring Chinese and Portuguese, as well 
as the small-town merchant Arab and Jew (Pattullo, 5). In the mid-
to-late 20Th century, as territories particularly in the English 
speaking Caribbean became politically independent, there arose new 
industries and service sectors, one of the most important being 
tourism. While it may have then seemed a solution to the economic 
woes of many states, this essay will argue that this sector, in its very 
nature, has perpetuated the legacy of colonialism, so much so that it 
may be conceptualized as a „neo-colonial phenomenon.‟ 
 
  According to Gmelch, neo-colonialism takes power from the 
local and regional levels and concentrates it in the hands of foreign-
owned companies. This relates to the topic under study in that the 
„economic freedom‟ which was expected to have taken shape after 
independence did not in fact materialize. In other words, economic 
power did not simply fall into the hands of the majority of Caribbean 
people. Instead, what many scholars call “a new form of colonialism” 
took shape; this is regionally exemplified in industries such as 
tourism. Small scale tourism existed in the region up until the 1960s, 
though it was particularly geared towards “famous and rich 
Americans and Europeans” (Mullings, 99). Bryden states that “it was 
in the 1900s that a steady stream of travel journals, tourist guides 
and handbooks for the Caribbean began to emerge.”  This is referred 
to in Aspinall‟s Pocket Guide, published in 1907, from which he 
quotes: 
 
 



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Every year our beautiful and historic possession in the West 
Indies attracts an interesting number of visitors from 
England, who find in them a refuge from the rigour and fogs 
of winter. To our American cousins, these colonies have long 
been profitable hunting grounds for health and enjoyment. 
(Bryden, 99) 

 
While the notion that tourism in the Caribbean emerged 

recently is false, Bryden claims that “it is certainly in the postwar 
period that it reached any significant size as an industry in most of 
the Commonwealth Caribbean” (Bryden, 99).  The mid-twentieth 
century however saw the rise of modern, conventional tourism. This 
form of tourism can, to a large extent, be characterized by 
undifferentiated products, origin-packed holidays, spatially-
concentrated planning of facilities, resorts and activities and the 
reliance upon developed markets such as the United States, Canada 
and Britain. (Duval, 10)   
 
   During the 1950s and 1960s, many transformations 
facilitated the development of mass tourism in the Caribbean. One 
was the introduction of the jet aircraft which made travel from 
wealthy markets such as North America and Europe much easier. It 
was also during this period that many British colonies began to move 
towards political independence, encouraging the need to take control 
of economic development (Duval, 10). A focus on tourism meant that 
some islands could break away from existing colonial dependency 
arrangements through other sectors; tourism during this period then 
was a means of diversifying and modernizing the economies of the 
Caribbean. The 1960s were described as „the booming years‟ for 
tourism in the region. In fact, islands such as St. Vincent, Grenada, 
St. Lucia, Monsterrat, Antigua, the Bahamas as well as the Turks and 
Caicos, Cayman Islands and Virgin Islands had growth rates ranging 
from 10 to 24%.  While tourism flourished in these islands, the 
management of the industry was largely in the hands of expatriates, 
especially large hotel proprietors. While small scale, locally owned 
businesses existed since the industry‟s very inception, they were 
outnumbered by foreign owned businesses. Overall, the success of 
tourism could be seen in the stronger and larger economies of 
Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago (Duval, 11). 
 
  In the 1970s, tourism began to direct „a measure of 
respectability‟ and Caribbean government involvement began to 
grow. Holder states that “in terms of the overall economic 



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contribution that tourism activities made in the Caribbean, 
approximately US$1.7 billion was generated from foreign exchange 
as early as 1978” (Duval, 12). Tourism would continue to become a 
mainstay in most Caribbean islands over the next twenty years. In 
2000, “despite the recognition of the volatility of tourism, especially 
in fragile Third World economies and cultures, the region had 
become even more dependent on tourism” (Pattullo, 8).  Pattullo 
explains that “by the turn of the 21th century, all Caribbean territories 
were in the tourism business, (and) politicians had proclaimed it „the 
engine of growth‟”. It became associated with power and prosperity 
and was referred to as “the tool which would carry Caribbean peoples 
into „development‟ and „modernism‟ and out of the periphery of the 
world“(Pattullo, 6).  
 
  Though the tourism industry has had positive effects on the 
Caribbean, the region has retained patterns reminiscent of its 
colonial past. This is demonstrated in the way in which (like other 
regions of the third world) a dependency on foreign investment, 
foreign aid and the export of raw agricultural products maintained 
the shape and character of these societies. Bell, who Duval quotes in 
an effort to analyze this pattern, states that “the political structure of 
the region and the introduction of „sensitive political psyches‟…often 
conjured up suspicions of neo-colonialism as some economic ties to 
former colonial nations were not „cut off‟ completely.” This he said 
was “especially felt through tourism, the hedonistic face of neo-
colonialism” since most tourists were from affluent Western 
countries (Duval, 11). In other words, many Caribbean states, while 
no longer legally bound to mother countries, were unable to develop 
independently due to persisting economic disparities and linkages, 
even in sectors such as tourism.   
 
    Melanie K. Smith in her book Issues in Cultural Tourism 
attempts to wrestle with the question of whether or not tourism is a 
new form of imperialism. She argues that tourism is “dominated by 
Western developed nations, rendering host nations dependent and 
subservient to its needs” (Smith, 62).  Therefore, tourism reinforces 
an unequal balance of power between the West and host nations, so 
that many locals, especially in poorer areas will never have the 
opportunity to leave their homelands and instead, are often 
condemned to lives of servitude in the tourism sector (Smith 62). It 
was recognized during the booming years of tourism that Caribbean 
governments could not afford to fund the sector, thus, “helping to 
make it all happen were the „men in suits‟ – ranks of consultants, 



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diplomats, international tourist industry officials, lending agencies 
and development banks” (Pattullo, 6).  The governments relied 
heavily on international bodies such as the World Bank which 
financed the building of large hotels in the 1970s. The United 
Nations also supported the emerging sector, and an Organization for 
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) publication 
reported in 1967 that tourism was a „promising new resource for 
economic development.‟  Following this, between 1986 and 1990 the 
third Lomé Convention, which Pattullo argues “enshrined Europe‟s 
„special‟ relationship with states in Africa, the Caribbean and the 
Pacific”, also recognized the „real importance of the tourism industry‟ 
and gave a broad range of financial backing (Pattullo, 6).  This 
„special relationship‟ itself proved another way in which the region‟s 
ties to former colonial rulers still continued economically and were 
not completely severed as Duval suggests.  
 
  The idea that tourism “made economic sense for both tiny 
under-productive islands as well as for larger, more diversified debt-
laden economies such as Jamaica or the Dominican Republic” was 
supported by institutions such as the International Monetary Fund 
(IMF) and the World Bank. These institutions supported Caribbean 
tourism: the IMF through its structural adjustment programs (SAPs) 
and the World Bank through financing studies and providing loans 
for environmental and technical assistance projects (Pattullo, 6). The 
reliance of Caribbean governments on trust agencies incurred a 
substantial debt, putting the region at the mercy of lenders. Thus 
many islands were forced to make great changes in their social and 
economic structures to suit their first world counterparts. Mullings 
in her article Caribbean tourism: trouble in paradise? suggests that 
since “the islands could not finance tourism projects without 
diverting resources away from the other sectors that were also being 
developed,” Caribbean governments would have to depend on 
foreign investment to build hotels and infrastructure. It was also 
established that in creating a tourist market, certain provisions 
would have to be put in place, such as linkages with foreign airlines 
and tour operators (Mullings, 100). During the 1960s and 1970s, 
many islands, in an effort to appeal to foreign investors, offered hotel 
incentives that reduced import duties as well as income taxes. 
Incentives like these often included provisions for the duty free 
importation of equipment and raw materials, income tax relief as 
well as hotel profits and dividends. While islands were successful in 
this regard, tourism nevertheless seemed to be a more profitable 



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prospect for foreign investors rather than for the islands which 
subsidized their ventures (Mullings, 100).  
 
  Mullings makes reference to the fact that foreign ownership 
levels were lower on larger islands, yet higher on smaller ones. By 
mid-1980s, the industry was largely dominated by multi-national 
corporations such as The Sheraton, The Hilton, and other large hotel 
companies. By the 1970s it became clear that only a small number of 
these hotel chains would create the kind of linkages which would 
generate local development. While these hotels contributed 
somewhat to the provision of local employment, much of it was in 
“labour intensive, relatively low paid jobs such as housekeeping and 
food preparation.” The earnings host governments received from 
these forms of employment was miniscule when compared to 
potential earnings lost with the repatriation of the wages by 
expatriate managerial staffs and high import bills acquired by hotels 
under „centralized purchasing systems.‟ (Mullings, 100)  
 
  In his book Ecotourism, David A. Fennell (73) quotes a 
passage by Hills and Lundren which serves as a stark example of 
metropolitan dominance over developing countries in the Caribbean:  
 

On arrival in a Caribbean island between plane and hotel, the 
tourists could well have passed through a terminal building 
presented by the people of Canada and have been driven along 
a road either built or improved “thanks” to Canadian aid, on 
behalf of the Canadian tourists of course. At the hotel you will 
likely be greeted with rum punches, the first of the few local 
products to be encompassed by the package. At your first 
meal, a menu perhaps designed in Toronto, Chicago or Miami 
will provide you with a selection of food imported for the 
greater part from North America-good familiar, homogenized, 
taste-free food, dressed up with a touch of local colour. 
    

This quote, in its somewhat sarcastic tone, speaks to the 
idea of the Caribbean as grounds for a warmer, perhaps „not so 
North-American, North American vacation.‟ In other words, 
elements of local culture are lost as a result of heavy foreign 
influences in the tourism sector, so much so, that tourist vacations 
become nothing but a little, more „colourful‟, version of home. The 
all-inclusive hotel, described as the solution to tourists‟ fears of 
crime and harassment, also seems to stifle local development. 
Mullings in her article suggests that “Because all expenses are pre-



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paid, few tourists in these packed holidays ever venture outside of 
the hotel complexes to directly purchase goods and services from 
locals in the surrounding communities.” In fact, tourists are 
reminded that tips are unnecessary “therefore closing-off even this 
opportunity for money to leak into the local community” (108). This 
„cash free vacation‟ then has resulted in a growing concentration of 
foreign earnings in the hands of a few (usually foreign) hoteliers as 
well as the decline in opportunities for local service providers 
(indirectly involved in tourism) to export their services. This has, in 
essence, disadvantaged local taxi drivers, craftsmen, vendors and 
even farmers for whom tourism was once a means of securing their 
livelihood (Mullings, 108). Now, the hotel provides many of these 
goods and services as a part of a pre-packaged deal.  
 
  Moreover, Pattullo states that the primary institutions of the 
tourism industry such as airlines, tour operators, travel agents and 
hoteliers are largely owned, controlled and managed outside of the 
region: “Sometimes, through vertical integration, they are 
corporately linked, controlling every ounce of the tourist‟s holiday.” 
(21) This very arrangement relates directly to the economic past of 
the Caribbean, in which western „parent‟ countries externally 
controlled their affairs.  In his book Behind the smile: The working 
lives of Caribbean tourism, George Gmelch suggests that tourism 
“reawakens memories of the colonial past and so perpetuates 
resentments and antagonisms.” In the 1970s, many intellectuals 
criticized foreign influence in the Caribbean as “demeaning and a re-
colonization by other means” (35). Authors such as Polly Pattullo 
believe that from its very beginnings, there were echoes of the system 
of slavery in the dynamics of the tourist industry which was met by 
the “the languid behaviour of black hotel employees [evoking] the 
passive resistance practiced in slavery.” (64)  
 

Pattullo proposes that many of the tourism industry‟s issues 
are rooted in slavery and colonialism through “this folk memory 
lingering in the shadow of every encounter: that black people have 
served white people for hundreds of years and that before they did it 
for wages, they did it under servitude.” An example she gives speaks 
directly to the case of Jamaica where the best jobs in Jamaican hotels 
had been reserved for white Americans, leaving blacks with only 
menial jobs. She states unabashedly: “The predominantly white 
American tourists brought their own racist attitudes and behaviour 
on holiday with them, and Jamaicans often found themselves 
unwelcome on the beach or in hotels, treated as dehumanized 



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curiosities and exotic objects in the tourist literature.”  In other 
words, tourism began to marginalize Caribbean peoples in their own 
homelands. (Pattullo, 64) 
 
  In countries such as Barbados where a majority of the locals 
are black and most tourists are white, Gmelch identifies that 
dynamics of race influence many interactions between them, in that, 
“racism or expectations of it based on the country‟s colonial history 
sometimes complicates interactions.” A case he uses as an example 
refers to black workers in managerial positions in the industry.  He 
describes a scenario in which: 
 

an unhappy guest went to the front desk to lodge a complaint. 
The hotel manager, a black man, just happened to be at the 
desk when the visitor approached, loudly demanding to see 
the manager. The manager said “Yes, that‟s me.” The visitor 
refused to believe that a black man could be the manager of a 
luxury hotel and when he repeated that he was the manager, 
the visitor left in a huff. (Gmelch, 27) 

 
He also refers to a case where an American tourist walked directly up 
to two hotel barmen and asked “How do you guys feel about waiting 
on white people? Does it bother you? (Ibid.) An Antiguan staff 
member at a restaurant, in a letter to a local newspaper, wrote about 
poor working conditions, asking “How are we to work right through 
the day from 7am until 3:30pm with only one meal on an empty 
stomach; ARE WE SLAVES?” (Pattullo, 64)  
 

It must be noted that connections with slavery, similar to 
the above notions, are still made in the workplace today, particularly 
as it relates to matters of servitude. In the 1990s, Professor of 
History at the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill, Hilary 
Beckles, analyzed the relationship between the white business elite, 
the state, and the citizenry at large. He claimed that tourism was the 
“new plantocracy”, and added, “The new financial tourism base 
means that the state has become the overseer”.  He goes on to say 
that “[t]he feeling is that black people are more marginalized now, 
that there is a return to colonialism. Because whites own all the land, 
commerce, and all have major duty free outlets and now the sea 
ports - the same group is in control.  In tourism, blacks have no 
status in decision making”. (Patullo, 65)  

 



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   Prominent Jamaican writer, Olive Senior, draws a close 
comparison between colonialism and tourism in her poem, 
“Meditation on Yellow.” In doing this, Senior divides the poem into 
two parts; the first addressing colonialism in relation to the groups of 
peoples brought to the region for plantation work and in the second, 
conveying the perpetual exploitation of locals in the face of neo-
colonial tourism. The very rhythm of the poem captures the labour 
intensive nature of local work while maintaining the repetition of 
servitude to a „new group of people‟ in a very familiar way:  
 
At some hotel  
overlooking the sea  
you can take tea  
at three in the afternoon  
served by me  
skin burnt black as toast  
(for which management apologizes) 
but I‟ve been travelling long  
cross the sea in the sun-hot  
I‟ve been slaving in the cane rows  
for your sugar  
I‟ve been ripening coffee beans  
for your morning break  
I‟ve been dallying on the docks  
loading your bananas  
I‟ve been toiling in orange groves  
for your marmalade  
I‟ve been peeling ginger  
for your relish  
I‟ve been chopping cocoa pods  
for your chocolate bars  
I‟ve been mining aluminum  
for your foil. (14) 
 
With the use of the pronoun „I‟, Senior speaks collectively of the 
freedom that was expected with the Caribbean‟s independence from 
formal colonialism. Instead of its realization however, there has been 
a replacement of a new form of colonization, in part through the 
tourist industry. She continues:  
 
 



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And just when I thought  
I could rest  
pour my own  
– something soothing  
like fever-grass and lemon –  
cut my ten  
in the kitchen  
take five  
a new set of people  
arrive  
to lie bare-assed in the sun  
wanting gold on their bodies  
cane-rows in their hair  
with beads – even bells (14-15). 
 

While tourism has become one of the most significant 
contributors to the Gross Domestic Product of most Caribbean 
countries, it must be deduced that this industry has retained its roots 
in the colonial past. This is directly attributable to the nature of the 
region‟s relationship with metropolitan states, which remains 
glaringly unequal.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



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Works Cited 

 

Bryden, John M. Tourism and development: a case study of the 

Commonwealth Caribbean. Cambridge University Press, 1973. 

 

Duval, David Timothy. Tourism in the Caribbean: trends, development, 

prospects. New York: Routledge, 2004. 

 

Fennell, David A. Ecotourism. New York: Routledge, 2008.  

 

Gmelch , George. Behind the smile: the working lives of Caribbean 

tourism. Indiana: Indiana University Press, 2003. 

 

Jamal, Tazim and Robinson, Mike. The SAGE handbook of Tourism 

Studies. Sage Publications, 2009. 

 

Mullings, Beverly. “Caribbean Tourism: Trouble in Paradise?” in Tracey 

Skelton (ed.) Introduction to the Pan-Caribbean. London: Hodder Arnold, 

1964. 

 

Pattullo, Polly. Last Resorts: The Cost of Tourism in the Caribbean, 

Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers, 1996. 

 

Senior, Olive. “Meditation on Yellow” in Gardening in the Tropics. 

Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1994. 

 

Smith, Melanie K. Issues in Cultural Tourism Studies. New York: 

Routledge, 2009. 




