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Caribbean nations are facing their biggest shock in at least a century as tourism slumps amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to Marla Dukharan, an independent Barbados-based economist.

Tourism accounts for between 34% and 48% of gross domestic product in The Bahamas, Barbados, and Jamaica, according to data from the Inter-American Development Bank.

Even under the most optimistic scenario, the region will lose about 50% of its tourist revenue this year, wrote Dukharan, who was formerly a Caribbean economist at the Royal Bank of Canada.

Source: Bloomberg