DOI: https://doi.org/10.36344/ccijhss.2026.v12i03.003

Pages: 72-89

Tourism is defined as the activity of individuals visiting places and attractions for purposes such as leisure, business, health or other reasons (Soteriodes and Van Zyl, 2016). Tourism can be internal or external, that is visits within a country or visits to a foreign country. Tourism's profitability is well established and countries/regions embark on to a tourism journey to obtain foreign exchange, generate employment and create economic activity. The life cycle of a tourist destination helps to determine the current situation with visitor arrival and possible estimates of revenue, the profitability and success of a tourist destination depend on its unique attributes, accessibility, accommodation, human resources, availability of facilities, attractions, motivation of tourists for the destination, marketing strategies and government involvement. The uniqueness of a destination is associated with its tangible and intangible attributes. The fragility of a tourist destination refers to its vulnerability to negative impacts from both internal and external factors. Although tourism offers significant economic benefits, it is generally considered not wise to make tourism a country's or region's sole source of revenue or a major foreign exchange earner due to the various risks and drawbacks. This article reviews the profitability, uniqueness, fragility of tourism as well as the dangers of relying too heavily on tourism as an economic driver. The Barbados Situation is reviewed as a case study. Barbados is too reliant on tourism and there is need for the diversification of the economy.