Today

The American way of life prevails today in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and it has swept across to the British Virgin Islands as well. The region's traditional recipes and remedies, as well as the self-reliant arts of fishing, boat building, farming, and even hunting, are all but gone. When islanders need something, they have it shipped from Miami. In clothes, cars, food, and entertainment, America, not Great Britain, rules the seas around both archipelagos. The British Virgins even use the U.S. dollar as their official currency, instead of British pounds.

Like the rest of the world, the Virgin Islands, both the U.S. and the B.V.I., have been hit by a fallout of tourism in this bad economy. It is estimated that tourism to the islands has fallen 30% from what it was back in 2007 and 2008.

Since so much of the economy of the islands is based on tourism, the recession has had a horrible effect on local pocketbooks. Hotel occupancy is down, restaurant tables lack the number of diners they used to, and tourist attractions are less attended.

The bad economy has touched nearly everyone in the Virgin Islands. Many people are employed in offshoots of the tourism industry: food suppliers, laundry services that wash hotel sheets, liquor dealers, and more. Shops have been hurting as well, and some underfinanced marginal shops -- mainly those hawking gifts and souvenirs -- are, in the words of one shopkeeper, "just hanging in there."

The local tourism industry is trying to make up for this falloff in visitors by aggressively promoting destination weddings, touting the idea that a wedding is often much cheaper down in the Virgins than it might be at home, where costs often spiral out of control. The tourism industries are also welcoming corporate travelers. Desperate to fill up their rooms, hotels are making sweet deals with corporations, trying to lure new business to their islands.

Besides the lagging economy, if there is one overriding concern in both the U.S.V.I. and the B.V.I., it can be summed up in just two words: "Preserve Paradise." During the 1980s, a total disregard was shown for the environment. Natural beauty gave way to real estate development, and underwater resources weren't being protected. The B.V.I. government rebuffed Jean-Michel Cousteau and his reef-saving measures in the '80s, but Cousteau returned. He was so impressed with the recent conservation methods that he's now a trustee of the British Virgin Islands National Parks. In 2002, the B.V.I. added 10 new locations, including the Anegada Nature Reserve, to its existing parks. St. John, the smallest of the U.S. Virgin Islands, is the most protected landmass in the Caribbean, with some 60% of its acreage directly controlled by the U.S. National Park Service.

On the other hand, St. Thomas has been so overly developed that a battle is currently raging over the future of the 360 acres surrounding Botany Bay, on the western end of St. Thomas, long a refuge from the bustle of Charlotte Amalie, the capital. The area is a final refuge for deer and a nesting ground for sea turtles, with some of the healthiest coral reefs around St. Thomas. Some developers want to turn this pristine area into a resort complex with hotel rooms, timeshare apartments, and condos. The island is $1 billion in debt -- and may fall even further into debt by 2010 because of the slow economy -- and it needs the cash that development could bring. Caroline Brown, of the Environmental Association of St. Thomas, has issued a dire warning that islanders may find themselves "living in a concrete jungle." Since protection of the environment is at issue here, this is a hot-button political topic, and much of the future of the islands is riding on what the eventual plan will be for Botany Bay.

Other grandiose plans have stalled, including the creation of a Caribbean Cultural Heritage Center and Discovery Park adjacent to the cruise-ship dock at Havensight. If it ever gets the green light, it would be funded by issuing tax-free bonds. It's certainly on the table for the future, but is currently deadlocked.

After decades of neglecting their surroundings, islanders have awakened to the fact that what they have to sell to the tourist market -- their natural resources -- must be preserved for future generations. But the temptation of the money that development brings is powerful bait.

Roll the Dice -- In 1996, U.S. senators agreed to allow the opening of gambling casinos in the U.S. Virgin Islands, granting permission for the building of two casino hotels on St. Croix. In a bow to the islanders, senators agreed that majority ownership of the casino hotels will be reserved for locals. The arrival of gambling conflicts with the desire of many islanders to preserve the scenic beauty of their land. Nonetheless, the gambling wheels are spinning at St. Croix's Divi Carina Bay Casino. The establishment of a second casino on St. Croix was approved at a building site in Robin Bay several years ago, but ground has not been broken yet. Local governments are struggling to balance the preservation of the islands' number-one resource -- scenic beauty -- with modern economic realities.

A 51st State?

U.S. Virgin Islanders are not allowed to vote in national elections, a sore spot among some of the local residents. Many hope to see another star added to the American flag in the near future, but others prefer not to rock the boat.

When the 1936 Organic Act of the Virgin Islands was passed under the Roosevelt administration, residents ages 21 and over were granted suffrage and could elect two municipal councils and a legislative assembly for the islands. In 1946, the first black governor of the islands, William Hastie, was appointed. By 1970, the U.S. Virgin Islanders had the right to elect their own governor and lieutenant governor.

Today, the U.S. Virgin Islands remain an unincorporated territory administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Politically speaking, the Virgin Islands, like Puerto Rico, remain outside the family of the United States. They are only permitted to send a nonvoting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Some islanders are beginning to demand more representation. They feel that only full statehood will provide the respect, power, and influence needed to turn the islands into more than just a "colony." But as of yet, it seems unlikely. The question of statehood is raised at each new election of Congress or of a president, but progress in this direction moves sluggishly along, if at all.