Caribbean territories have always utilised their creative industries as vehicles through which to market themselves. By far the best example of this is the manner in which Jamaica has been able to utilise the music and the visual image of Bob Marley to market the country as a whole and to sell products some of which had nothing to do with either Marley or his music. What Jamaica figured out was that the global appeal of Marley was a vehicle through which you could sell most things Jamaican, including its tourism product. The appeal of Bob Marley extended to a broader appeal for Reggae music and the two combined to create a powerful pull effect towards Jamaica which has not been matched anywhere else in the region.
The same is true—though to a lesser extent—elsewhere in the Caribbean. The Trinidad and Tobago Carnival has, over the years, been part of the appeal that has sold the twin-island republic. Trinidad and Tobago may be an oil-exporting country but ask any foreigner what he or she best remembers the country for and he or she is likely to say Carnival.
Some of the smaller islands have used their creative industries to promote themselves too.
Grenada and St Lucia have tried to do so through craft and music. Visitor arrivals and the export of these