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230 Conclusion Technically, It’s a Country In this conclusion I consider what is in store for the BritishVirgin Islands as a tourist destination, as a major center for international financial services, and as a country.As I complete this book, the BVI is experiencing the impact of a global economic downturn in both its tourism and its financial services sectors. A 2008 first quarter increase in visitors by 14.6 percent over 2007 numbers was heralded in a Tourist Board press release,“BritishVirgin Islands Tourism Sector Starts 2008 on Positive Note”; but by the first quarter of 2009, the BVI Tourist Board chairman reported that “while most of the Caribbean reported 30–50 percent decreases in their tourism sectors, theVI only took a 15–30 percent hit” (quoted in O’Connor 2009a: 20). While the BVI may take some comfort from this comparison with other Caribbean countries, as the political relationship between the United States and Cuba thaws, the terrain on which the BVI competes for tourists to the Caribbean can be expected to change (Henthorne and Miller 2003; Miller et al. 2008). Additionally, the BVI Tourist Board chairman noted that a decline in the number of people traveling and the growth of tourism to destinations such as Dubai, China, and the Seychelles,“some of which offer a higher quality product, higher level of service, better cuisine and lower prices,” also pose challenges to the BVI tourism sector (“Tourist Board Chairman Addresses New Rotary Club” 2009). The BVI financial services sector sustained correspondingly great losses. Although there are more companies registered in the BVI than in any other offshore domicile (Robert Mathavious, personal communication ), by the first quarter of 2009, the BVI financial services sector that in 2008 contributed to over 65 percent of the GDP had seen a 40 percent drop in company registrations. Rathbone Brothers Plc—“a financial trust powerhouse” whose BVI branch manages about $1.2 billion in assets— was putting its BVI branch on the market (O’Connor 2009b: 5), and the BVI was anxiously awaiting the results of the G-20 summit, where strict financial services regulations were being drafted in an effort to capture tax Conclusion 231 revenues from money held in offshore jurisdictions (“VI Readies for Likely G-20 Storm”). By September 2009, the BVI government had signed more than the twelve Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) the G20 required for the BVI to be placed on the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) white list of compliant offshore jurisdictions. But the ongoing global economic crisis continued to have a negative impact upon the revenues generated by the BVI financial services sector (O’Connor 2009c), and BVI government predicted a 5 percent budgetary shortfall in projected revenues for 2009 (French 2009). As revenues in the BVI financial services sector declined and the BVI considered the possibility of losing its financial services industry altogether, its tourism industry emerged as an ever more vital resource. At a Tourism Industry Action Plan meeting in February 2009, the BVI Tourist Board chairman pointed out that “we have to protect tourism at all costs . . . tourism may very well become the financial backbone of this country” (quoted in O’Connor 2009a: 20).The fallback on tourism underscores BVI dependence on outside economies and events. And while it is difficult to predict what strategies the BVI will implement to meet the challenge of global recession, it is precisely the relations that the BVI has with forces, values, people, events, and economies outside its borders that have shaped the BVI experience from the inception of the BVI tourism industry. These relations influence profoundly the way that BVIslanders think about themselves and about people living among them. They also engender a sense of the BVI as a nation that of necessity takes into account its status as a commodity in a global marketplace. By looking at the BVI as a commodity in relation BVI nation building, we get a sense of what I refer to as corporate nationalism, and this in turn provides a framework for considering the BVI future. Commodification and Corporate Nationalism I take the title of this chapter,“Technically It’s a Country,” from a television commercial that was aired early in 1999 by the online brokerage firm, Discovery Brokerage. In the commercial, a grungy tow truck driver named Bob gives a ride to a man in a suit and tie whose car broke down.As Bob drives along in his junky tow truck he tells his...

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