TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands BVI percentage of GDP from tourism

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Have no idea whether that percentage is correct for the BVI, but the numbers seem LOW for many of the places listed there in the Caribbean.

SXM is 45%, if you Google it. I suspect the BVI number is severely under reported.

Google search says 52% for the BVI, so obviously the story is full of crap. And that SXM number is BS.

I have always heard it is less than the financial industry in the BVI so I'm not surprised by the 33% number. Those numbers should change over time as the financial industry is changing.

I know the financial industry is big in the BVI, bigger than several other islands. Guess the story is the same as half of what is on the internet, wrong.

This doesn't give a number for tourism but does indicate the Financial industry is 51.4% of the Governments revenue.

The page does say "In the British Virgin Islands, Tourism is the main source of income for the general society."

That probably only means that the majority of the population is engaged in some aspect of tourism but that the income derived is less than FS

No it means the income derived from Tourisim is less for the Government {all the taxes and permits} nothing to do with the income generated for the territory , accommodation, restaurant, bars, provisions , entertainment

I imagine the income to private businesses is over 80% tourism. There is probably a small cash flow between businesses (I provide the groceries to prepare dinner, you cook it for me) but the fresh cash is from visitors. Remember the government is taxing the income (payroll) of the residents so at a certain point there will be no cash amongst the private sector.

My guess is the BVI government doesn't report these numbers because they can't figure them out.

Quote "I imagine the income to private businesses is over 80% tourism. There is probably a small cash flow between businesses (I provide the groceries to prepare dinner, you cook it for me) but the fresh cash is from visitors. Remember the government is taxing the income (payroll) of the residents so at a certain point there will be no cash amongst the private sector."



In the outer islands more than 80% from tourism Anegada, Jost and VG to some extent we are stuck in limbo Tortola is moving slowly but at least its moving, hopefully they will set a date soon as there has been zero help from the government to small to medium businesses so far.

Peter,

After one of the past storms I think it was Earl - Potter sold certificates for future dining at a discount to fund rebuilding. I think he offered a 50% discount and a place on the wall of honer that never happened - big surprise!. Anyway, if you were to start something similar I would be the first to sign up.

Jim

NCSailor - I still have a certificate from Potter's for meals/drinks, unused, for a couple of hundred. There was no significant discount, but I like the idea of "paying it forward" and at the time they needed the money to rebuild.

I would be in for that as well...among other things we sponsored a palm tree in White Bay at SDB after Irma in honor of one of our buddies who passed away 5 years ago. I thought that was a great idea is it didn't cost Jerry anything...

Would be glad to pay it forward in any way possible...

The very best thing we all can do is head down to the BVI as soon as it opens and spend money. I have trips planned in Nov, Dec, Apr and Jun. I just need the government to let me in!
George

Cow Wreck did the same after IrmaMaria. I would jump in if Peter offered that.

We're still paying our staff even though we have no guests at the moment - the landscaping, pool maintenance, and upkeep of a villa is still necessary. I'm sure it is the same for most of the villas on Virgin Gorda so there is some money going into VG. Construction is also still taking place - its the taxi drivers, servers, and other service staff that are/will suffer.

My iUSA ncome tax form for the villa will show a loss in the millions for this year. Somehow this negative balance needs to be recuperated. Not sure how long this will take.

Do we really even know what the actual GDP of the BVI is? there is a payroll tax but no corporate income tax. In general it is fairly hard to find reliable economic data for non independent islands. I know I've put in an effort in the past to find good reliable economic data.