The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that many Caribbean countries risk becoming COVID-19 “economic long-haulers,” meaning the pandemic's economic fallout might be felt in the region long after the health emergency is controlled. “With annual hotel stays plummeting by 70 per cent and cruise ship travel completely halted, tourism-dependent countries contracted by 9.8 per cent in 2020,” the IMF said. It added that renewed waves of infections and travel restrictions in the countries where most visitors normally come from – such as Canada – “have put a much hoped-for tourism rebound in check.”
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