To some people, the whale has become a symbol of environmentalism and the pure conservationist is unwilling to face the reality of the whaling culture and consider its raison d'ętre. Whaling countries, regardless of size, will be confronted relentlessly by anti-whaling countries in an effort to have them abandon their whaling cultures.

The Caribbean region attracts the attention of such conservationists in the form of tourists as a new destination. The most common route to Bequia is the one from New York (or Miami) via Barbados. It takes just five hours and a half to go from New York to Bequia.

As tourism began to develop in the Caribbean region after the mid-1950s, the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines offered a variety of incentives in order to attract foreign investment. One of these incentives was the Hotel Aids Ordinance which allowed exemption from taxes and customs duties. In accordance with this Ordinance and other incentives, between 1958 and 1962, two small islands were sold and one leased for 99 years. In three other islands large tracts of government and private owned land were either sold or leased. Thus the Grenadines were opened to residential conservationist who continue to oppose the cultural and traditional rights of a people to whale even within sustainable limits.

In Bequia, the whaling season (February to May) and the tourist season (mid-December to mid-April) overlap with each other and the more the tourists come to Bequia, the greater will be the possibility of conflict.

The Prime Minister of the country developed an artificial beach in an adjacent area to the Bequia Airport which had been constructed on reclaimed land with the help of European Community funds. He named the beach after the great harpooner of Bequia in order to reinforce whaling as a cultural identity for Bequians.