When in the 1980s it became apparent that Europe’s preferential regimes for bananas and sugar were coming to an end, an impassioned debate began about a transition to other forms of economic activity. For the most part the language was about alternative crops, import substitution, manufacturing, exports and financial services. Oddly, little was said about tourism which was widely regarded as a fickle industry.
There were of course huge legal and technical arguments, extensive conversations about how any