Last mile logistics and tourist destinations in the Caribbean

PurposeGrowth of the tourism sector and the relative importance of the last mile have been studied in independent literature, but theorists formally linking the two phenomena are limited. This paper aims to develop a theoretical framework for the understanding of the relationships between the last mile concept and the growth of the tourism sector.Design/methodology/approachUsing 16 Caribbean countries’ tourism destinations, the study designs the last mile response to tourists’ demand based on the following categories: homogenous high-end tourists; homogenous low-end tourists; non-homogenous high-end tourists; non-homogenous low-end tourists; homogenous and non-homogenous high-end tourists; and homogenous and non-homogeneous low-end tourists. Destination networks were ranked relative to each other in terms of six different performance dimensions. A ranking of 1 indicates the best performance along a given dimension and the relative performance worsens, as the ranking gets higher.FindingsFirst, it is the case that the Caribbean has a tourism environment with three types of destinations differentiated by their last mile standard levels (high standard LML, low standard LML and a combination of high and low standard LML). Second, tourists can choose from destinations that have high, low and combination of high and low last mile standard levels. Third, the relative number of tourists and relative profit of destination will depend on the last mile level. Fourth, while empirical evidence of the integration strategies for market differentiation is scarce, this paper points to the effect of cooperation on marketing destinations or integration strategies for marketing destinations.Originality/valueThe grouping of countries into high standard LML, low standard LML and a combination of high and low standard LML represents an advance on the traditional grouping based on proximity, colonial affiliation, language and cultural association. Identifying destination networks that are best suited for a variety of tourists, investors and marketers is of great value to regional tourism planners.