CARIFORUM and UK EPA Study

The Travel services sector was by far the most important activity by major category for CARIFORUM in relation to its exports to the UK, accounting for US$15.3 billion of the total US$18.5 billion worth of services that the region exported to that market over the period 2008 to 2019, representing a share of 83%. This was followed in distant second by the region’s exports of “Other Commercial Services”, amounting to US$1.9 billion or just over 10% of it’s total exports to the UK, of which “Other Business Services” followed by Telecommunications, Computer and Information services and Insurance and Pension services were the major export activities recorded within that sub-category. Overall, however, the top three major export industries were Travel services, followed by Other Business Services and Transport Services. Despite the overall positive trend in CARIFORUM’s total services exports to the UK over the period, sub-sectors such as “Manufacturing services on Physical Inputs Owned by the UK” registered massive declines, falling by 98% from US$46 million at the start of the period in 2008 to just US$1 million at the end of 2019. The region’s exports of Telecommunications, Computer and Information services to the UK also experienced a significant reduction by 46%, representing a loss of US$26 million, while Transport services also fell by almost 30% from US$99 million to US$70 million. However, whereas the foregoing sectors were the clear volume loss leaders in terms of the unrealized value of exports originating from the CARIFORUM region, the “Charges for the use of Intellectual Property” services sub-sector declined by a much larger proportion of 67%, ranking second overall, though on a comparatively much lower base. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the positive trends observed in the remaining sectors serve as evidence of potential opportunities and untapped market segments, especially when account is taken of the UK’s overall global imports in these various sub-sectors. Consequently, there was significant room for growth and expansion in the region’s exports of Insurance and Pension services as well as Personal, Cultural and Recreational services to the UK, which registered overall growth of 233% and 157%, respectively, throughout the period. CARIFORUM’s exports of Travel Services to the UK also grew by a more modest 36%, followed by Other Business services exports, which expanded by close to a third (32%).

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