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The rich heritage in the Caribbean in a year-round warm weather environment gives the region an advantage over other regions in the rebound of tourism. The coronavirus pandemic has conditioned travelers to seek safe and healthy methods in their recreation. The region has a wealth of cultural activities, such as Junkanoo in The Bahamas, Kadooment in Barbados, and Carnival in several countries, and tourists can enjoy them outdoors throughout the year. This is not possible in many regions around the world during the colder seasons. Additionally, outdoor historical sites, such as Columbus' landfall in San Salvador Island or the Rolle plantations on Great Exuma island, should be restored and serve as means to attract millions of visitors interested in the world's history and culture. Capitalizing on cultural and historical interest in the region would enhance the marketing of a territory's destination, add to the economic value of the destination, and improve the tourist's experience on the island. While this has been discussed for decades, focusing on historical and cultural tourism is now imperative to the region's tourism rebirth. This renovation and restoration of cultural and historical sites should be financed and managed through public–private partnerships.

In September 2019, The Bahama Islands were hit by a category 5 hurricane Dorian, which stalled over the islands for two days. Dorian's aftermath left an estimated $3.4 billion dollars in damages, lost lives, homes destroyed, and a weakened economy heavily reliant on tourism. As residents worked to restore a sense of normalcy, six months later they were faced with the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent economic pandemic. Bahamians now had to cope with two major disasters. How to rebuild an economy inclusive of the tourism industry but also how to survive in the COVID-19 environment of lockdowns, wearing masks, social distancing, economic hardships, and employment loss in a still recovering economy. This chapter used an electronic survey to collect data about examining the ways in which Bahamians coped with two natural disasters simultaneously – hurricane Dorian and COVID-19 economically and socially, and how the islanders view The Bahamas moving forward in the face of these events.

The chapter explores how tourism creates even more dependence as spaces become gentrified and too expensive for local occupation through colonial tropes, and accumulation models. Tourism consumes gently. In the wake of Hurricanes Irma, Maria, and Dorian, The Bahamas and Puerto Rico have experienced an accelerated strike on their natural and social resources: from land deals and tax concessions to power infrastructure and school closures. Debt has plagued the countries; the policies designed to get them out of debt prior to the natural disasters, then converted into man-made disasters, have only deepened dependence and indebtedness. In fact, both have become externalized communities where land is being accumulated through dispossession. Tourism is more than just hotels and resorts; it is now the gated communities and private islands that build on coloniality and inequalities. Tourism, disaster capitalism, and green grabbing accumulate by dispossessing locals of land in the name of improving their economic health. Economic well being seems to result in loss.

When it comes to small island developing states (SIDS), the literature is burgeoning with articles on resilience and climate change or resilience as an aftermath to some type of natural disaster. As a singular topic, economic resilience or political resilience has not been as widely discussed. Baldacchino (2014), however, took a close look at sovereign small island states and how they have been able to, among other things, secure their independence following long periods of colonization and exhibit good economic indicators that were and are comparative to those of much larger developing countries (Anklesaria Aiyar, 2008; Armstrong & Read, 1998; Easterly & Kraay, 2000). In his essay, Baldacchino discusses economic development of small island states using a heavy dose of commercialization of resources as the backdrop for sustainable economic development.

This chapter will take a look at what The Bahamas has implemented in the wake of major external shocks that have all but crippled other small economies. The strategies implemented have not only been a stabilizing force but have placed the country well on the road to economic recovery. It is to be noted that while implementation of some of these strategies were not easy or received well by certain factions in the country, politics aside, government officials from across the divide came together to prove once and for all that regardless of individual politics, the strength of the country's economic and political pillars was the best show of resilience as the world looked toward the future.

COVID-19 literally stopped the recent unprecedented tourism growth in its tracks with airline groundings, restaurant closures, business suspensions, hotel evacuations, and mandatory travel bans. What has come in the aftermath is a realization that tourism will see shifts in employment styles and function, pricing, customer behaviors, and successful products due to new desires among travelers for alternate tourism experiences that provide authentic, low-density settings while ensuring public health and safety. This is of particular importance to Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) due to their high dependence on tourism for economic stimulation and quality of life. This chapter presents findings from a survey of 30 resort tourism sites across the United States to highlight the impacts of COVID-19 on general operations, employee and customer relations, and coping strategies during the pandemic. Additionally, this chapter draws on other recent COVID-19 research to summarize significant impacts to tourism during the pandemic with a particular focus on how this will impact SIDS. Finally, this chapter presents a series of new navigational aids for SIDS to provide guidance for tourism planning and management among these unique and sensitive island nations.

This work critiques the situation of the ecological and cultural heritage in many coastal territories and analyses how current land planning methodologies are responding to it. The study builds a new integrated approach founded on ecocultural values and local knowledge as resources for an effective territorial planning and sustainable development.

The proposed framework was developed through: (1) analysing coastal planning needs and problems in European coastal areas; (2) identifying ecocultural values, including local knowledge, in such areas; (3) selecting best approaches and tools in spatial planning; (4) applying the selected planning approaches to use ecocultural values as resources for spatial planning and sustainable development; and (5) validating the final methodology.

A dynamic approach for maritime-land planning was developed projecting coastal waters and river basins as strategic drivers for sustainable development, based on the natural capacity of water to shape and integrate the ecological and cultural territory. A participatory governance planning methodology supports the new articulations of space based on ecocultural value chains and networks as synergistic vectors, focusing on local knowledge as psychosocial capital for a collective mapping of cultural, historical, social, economic and ecological values into ecocultural littoral plans.

The results show the potentials of combining new approaches applying cultural and ecological heritage into an effective strategy of integration between society and territory as a powerful driver for effective sustainable planning and development.