The economy of the island, which
was largely dependent on fishery resources and meager agricultural produces,
underwent a change with the opening of air services from Colombia, followed by
a 1954 declaration of the island as a duty free zone. This brought about a
large influx of tourists to the island apart from immigrants from the mainland.
This also resulted in the local government imposing restrictions in the 1990s
to control the influx of people from the mainland, with intent to preserve
