Tourism Sector │ Industry Research: Climate Change Resiliency

Overview

The study focused on the tourism industry, which makes up a large share of total production in many Caribbean countries that suffer substantially from natural hazards.  The research was implemented in Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos.

Objective

The purpose of the survey was to collect data on firm-level resilience and to use this data to model the impact of natural disasters on regional and national-level tourism industries under the prevailing climate and different climate change scenarios.

To understand how tourism firms cope with natural hazards.

Work Done

KBDI worked with economists from the World Bank and UDA Consulting Inc. to test, refine, and re-test the instrument using a mobile data collection app, including translations in Spanish.  We developed a sample frame of 300 contacts in each country to achieve the client’s target response rate and confidence intervals.

KBDI facilitated a train-the-trainer workshop for the thirteen team leaders on the instrument, the app capabilities, and the data quality control processes.

KBDI coordinated the project implementation and applied ISO 20252:2019 quality standards for research.

Outcomes:

KBDI and its Caribbean team achieved 85% of the target responses by employing a mixed methods approach, particularly in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.  We pivoted from in-person interviews to virtual meetings and weblinks to reach the target respondents.

KBDI achieved a 90% data quality rating for the dataset.

The client has utilized the data in several climate resiliency models and subsequent technical assistance for the Caribbean tourism sector.