A recent trip to the Caribbean found me sitting on a sunny deck at the Fat Virgin Cafe on quiet Virgin Gorda, sucking on a cold beer and snacking on roti while wirelessly surfing the Web on my laptop.

A few passersby chided me for working in paradise, but I was secretly delighted to find a hotspot in such a remote location. From my perch I could download e-mail while watching the yachts cruise across the North Sound to a beach picnic on Anegada or cocktails at the Bitter End. It may have been this moment, in fact, when it dawned on me just how far the Caribbean has come in accommodating the needs of both hedonists and hard-core business travelers—and those of us who fall somewhere in between.

The Caribbean's reputation as a "fun in the sun" destination belies the fact that the region is also a serious business-travel destination, not just for construction and other commerce related to the dominant tourism industry, but also for such diverse interests as oil and energy, banking and finance, and pharmaceuticals. And although the leisure business dominates in many places, both destinations and hotels across the Caribbean also have taken pains to make themselves business-friendly. "Business travelers expect the same ease of communication ... as they have in their own offices in their own countries," says Hugh Riley, the Caribbean Tourism Organization's (CTO's) marketing director for the Americas. "We understand that."

Most discussions about business in the Caribbean start with Puerto Rico, a U.S. commonwealth that, with a 2005 GDP of more than $72 billion, is the clear-cut economic powerhouse of the region. (By comparison, the combined GDP of the 15 nations of the Caribbean Community and Common Market [CARICOM], which includes countries like Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad & Tobago, was about $64 billion in 2005.) As with the rest of the region, Puerto Rico has an image in the mind of most mainland Americans as a tourist destination. But 66 percent of visitors to the island are traveling on business, including transient business travelers and attendees at meetings and conventions,
according to the Puerto Rico Convention Bureau (PRCB).

Trade-show company Reed Exhibitions hosts an annual pharmaceutical show in San Juan; Kevin Richards, vice president of the firm's life sciences group, ticks off several reasons why U.S. business travelers favor Puerto Rico, including English being the official language for business, use of the U.S. dollar, and a lack of customs entanglements on imports and exports. "Business travelers will find it very comfortable to come to Puerto Rico without speaking Spanish," agrees Ana Maria Viscasillas, president and CEO of the PRCB. "Business meetings, out of respect for you, will be conducted in English."

Puerto Rico has long been a premier destination for meetings and conventions, from traditional business conferences to trade shows, but this segment of the local economy took a huge leap forward in 2005 with the opening of the $215 million Puerto Rico Convention Center (PRCC). With 580,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space, the PRCC is by far the largest facility of its kind in the Caribbean, and can compete directly with convention centers in warm-weather destinations in the continental U.S. thanks to San Juan's tremendous airlift and the large stock of hotel rooms in nearby Condado.

Tax incentives lured the pharmaceutical industry to Puerto Rico more than 50 years ago, and while most of the tax breaks have dried up, the commonwealth continues to be an industry hub. Fourteen of the top 20 prescription drugs used in the U.S. are made in Puerto Rico, Viscasillas notes. "We are the world's largest supplier of pharmaceutical products," she says. Among the companies with major operations in Puerto Rico are such household names as Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb, and GlaxoSmithKline.

Banking, insurance, and real estate companies also have a strong presence in Puerto Rico, which tends to be favored as a headquarters location for U.S. companies doing business in Latin America and vice versa. "For American citizens, there's a sense of comfort that you're on U.S. soil," says Viscasillas. For Latin American companies, she adds, Puerto Rico is a bilingual bridge between the Americas.

Overall, more than 160 Fortune 500 companies have offices on the island, says Viscasillas. The western half of Puerto Rico, served directly by air from the U.S. via Aguadilla or Ponce, has a technology corridor pioneered by Hewlett-Packard and an emerging biotechnology industry centered on the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez.

Beyond Tourism: Banking, Energy and Education
Despite Puerto Rico's dominance, however, there are a number of other significant business-travel destinations in the Caribbean. Tourism, of course, is a huge economic force: in 2005, more than 22.5 million tourists visited the Caribbean, according to the Caribbean Tourism Organization, and tourism accounted for nearly 15 percent of the region's total GDP and 2.5 million jobs. U.S.-based construction, hospitality, and service-industry companies are frequent visitors to the region as a result.

But at least one Caribbean island, Trinidad (half of the nation of Trinidad & Tobago) has virtually no tourism industry; rather, the hotel rooms in the capital Port of Spain are largely filled with business travelers drawn by the nation's oil and gas industry, which fueled a 12.6- percent economic growth rate in 2006. "Our Courtyard by Marriott in Port of Spain's 120 rooms have 90-plus percent occupancy year-round," says Chuck Kelley, Marriott's executive vice president for the Caribbean and Latin America.

To meet the demand for rooms for business travelers, and to upgrade the image of Port of Spain's waterfront, the government of Trinidad is developing The International Waterfront Project. When it is completed (scheduled for 2009), the complex will house a 428-room Hyatt Regency, a state-of-the-art conference center, office and retail facilities, and the headquarters of the Association of Caribbean States.

Curaçao and Aruba, just off the coast of oil-rich Venezuela, have large oil refineries operating in view of beaches and shops crammed with tourists, and one of the largest petroleum refineries in the world is located in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, which otherwise relies on tourism for 80 percent of its economy.

If there is one Caribbean country that can rival Puerto Rico as a business-travel destination it is the Bahamas, specifically Nassau. Financial services account for more than 15 percent of the local economy, second only to tourism, and Nassau is one of the region's top draws for meetings and conventions due in large part to the 2,300-room Atlantis resort on Paradise Island, which features an already massive conference center that's due to be expanded beyond 300,000 square feet within the next year. Meanwhile, the planned $2-billion Baha Mar project, slated for the Cable Beach area, will add four Starwood-branded hotels and another 175,000 square feet of meeting space to Nassau by 2010.

English-speaking Barbados has become a center for offshore finance and information services, along with the Cayman Islands, which enjoy the added benefit of having no direct taxation. In fact, the Cayman Islands boasts its own stock exchange, and more than 68,000 companies have registered operations in the country. Both have legitimate business-travel friendly hotels, including the Hilton Barbados in Bridgetown and the Hyatt Regency and Courtyard by Marriott on Grand Cayman.

Grenada and St. Kitts get a fair amount of education-related travel because they are home to branches of U.S. universities. More recently, both nations have also dipped their national toes in the offshore finance business, following a well-worn path paved by neighboring islands seeking replacements for the collapsed sugarcane industry without creating an overreliance on tourism. And in a move to broaden its visitor base, Grenada's recently rebuilt US$40 million Queen's Park Stadium will host the Caribbean's first Cricket World Cup in April.

The Dominican Republic is similar to Puerto Rico in that its well-known tourist districts, such as Punta Cana and Puerto Plata, tend to overshadow the serious business side of the island. Santo Domingo, for example, is home to regional headquarters of companies like Verizon, Chevron/Texaco, and Johnson & Johnson. "The Dominican Republic has excellent airlift," notes Kelley, whose Courtyard property competes for business travelers in Santo Domingo with the Hilton and the Renaissance Jaragua. "It is one of the few self-sufficient islands in the Caribbean."

Kingston, Jamaica is another example of a Caribbean capital where most downtown international visitors are traveling for business, not pleasure: mining of bauxite and alumina is still a significant part of the Jamaican economy, although just a fraction of the value of the tourist industry.

Sunny Skies for Cell Phones, Wireless Internet
Business travelers heading to the Caribbean are hardly expected to communicate with two coconut halves linked with a string: in fact, cell phones have become ubiquitous on the islands, and regional firms like Cable & Wireless provide extensive cellular coverage. Even at hotels that cater primarily to leisure travelers, in-room high-speed Internet access has become the norm, and wireless Internet hotspots are proliferating in hotel lobbies, conference centers, poolside, and even on the beach (where the biggest challenge may be finding a shady spot where you can read the screen on your laptop or BlackBerry).

"Two years ago, high-speed Internet was considered a luxury," says Kelley. "Now, people complain if you don't have it. As a company, we're very aware that whether traveling on pure business or leisure, people still want to be connected to their business."

Radisson, whose hotel on Palm Beach is one of Aruba's most popular tourist destinations, recently announced that it will provide free high-speed Internet access at all of its hotels in the Caribbean and throughout the Americas. "It's impossible for a hotel brand to successfully and profitably operate today without offering high-speed Internet access at its properties," says Nancy Johnson, executive vice president for full-service hotels at Radisson parent Carlson Hotels Worldwide. "Our point of difference is that we've opted to provide it free of charge."

Business-traveler-friendly hotel chains like Westin, Sheraton, Marriott and Hilton are well-established in the Caribbean: Marriott Hotels has a variety of Caribbean properties under its various flags, including Courtyard by Marriott, Renaissance, and Marriott, for example, while Hilton has 19 hotels in the region. And more are on the way: Starwood, for example, will open the first W Hotel in the Caribbean at Baha Mar (along with new St. Regis, Westin, and Sheraton properties), while Mandarin Oriental is building new hotels in Grand Cayman (2008) and Turks &
Caicos (2009).

Tilo Joos, regional director of sales and marketing for Hilton Caribbean, says that the brand-name chains appeal to the 30 percent of his guests visiting the region on business because they are convenient to city centers, participate in the Hilton Hhonors frequent-guest program, and offer the same meetings incentives, meal programs, and other amenities as Hiltons elsewhere. Hotels in destinations like Port of Spain, for example, even have special executive floors like business travelers will find in major international gateway cities. "They expect the same services as they find in Europe and the U.S.," Joos says. "They can relax, because we offer the same thing."

Doing Business in the Caribbean: An Etiquette Guide
As any vacationer can tell you, the Caribbean often works on "island time": things like bus and ferry schedules are often viewed more as guidelines than actual rules (to loosely quote Captain Barbossa in "Pirates of the Caribbean"), and while your waiter will cheerfully take your drink order, actual delivery of your Rum Punch or Piña Colada tends to be a more leisurely affair. Most visitors just relax and accept it as part of the region's unique charm.

But don't make the mistake of thinking that Caribbean business also runs on "island time." In fact, business meetings in the Caribbean are expected to start on time, so you'll win no points with clients if you show up late.

Likewise, many U.S. business travelers are surprised to learn that a certain formality suffuses business relations in the Caribbean: tales abound of island visitors showing up for meetings dressed in Bermuda shorts and tropical shirts when the occasion actually callsfor trousers and a jacket,at a minimum.

Remember, many islands in the Caribbean have a strong colonial tradition, so business relations tend to be more reserved in the formerly British possessions like Barbados and the British Virgin Islands and Turks & Caicos.

"Local business customs reflect those of the United States," advises the U.S. Commercial Service's Caribbean office. "Business people are informal and friendly and value personal contact and courtesy. First names are freely used after the initial meeting. Dress is basically American in style. Standard office wear for men is shirt and tie, or business suit. Women generally wear dresses, skirts or pantsuits."

Your suit can be summer-weight, however, and light fabrics and bright colors are more acceptable in the Caribbean than they would be on, say, Manhattan Island.

Business travelers also should not underestimate the Spanish and Latin influences that pervade many Caribbean cultures: socializing is a huge part of doing business in the Caribbean, and once the formal business meeting is over you should expect to invest some time in getting to know your hosts personally, and vice-versa.

Often, the dinner and drinks part of your business trip is where the real deals will get done, typically over discussions about family and local culture: Caribbean residents tend to be very proud of their home countries, so a question
about island life is usually a good icebreaker.

"I travel a lot in the world, and I must say that the Caribbean is a very easy place to do business," says Tilo Joos, regional director of sales and marketing for Hilton Caribbean. "It comes back to the fact that the people are very friendly and helpful."