The overhang of the Dudus extradition and the shower of bullets from Tivoli Gardens manhunt have inflicted significant collateral damage on the tourist industry.
The subsequent travel advisories from North America and England has made the reservation lines at the enchanting vacation meccas , as active as the bodies at the Kingston morgue.
If that was not enough, the British Government is set to double its air passenger tax to the Caribbean.
In light of this tax, there is also increased competition from an increasingly attractive and close Mediterranean region!
In the US, the travel ban to Cuba maybe lifted before the winter season by the US congress!
The devastating summary comes from the IMF which estimates a 10-15 per cent decline in tourist arrivals in the Caribbean region.
Well, some would have closed up shop batten down for the fury of another economic hurricane, but then there are innovators like Diana McIntyre-Pike.
Diana has been pioneering community tourism.
Community Tourism is an integrated approach and collaborative tool for the socio-economic empowerment of communities through the assessment, development and marketing of natural and cultural community resources which seeks to add value to the experience of local and foreign visitors and simultaneously improve the quality of communities.
This is a method to provide a sustainable tourism model.
Community Tourism gives local people wishing to participate more fully in the tourism industry a means of doing so. This may range from establishing bed & breakfast accommodation in a rural home to creating income-generating tourism opportunities for an entire village.
Community Tourism embraces eco-tourism, cultural tourism, adventure tourism, recreational tourism, geo-tourism, heritage tourism, health tourism, farm tourism et al.
We had an opportunity to take the pulse of the tourist industry in an interview with Diana.
Take a listen.
Michael Porter a famed business consultant stated it well “Innovation is the central issue in economic prosperity”.
Tourism represents $4BUS . This is 28% of the Jamaica’s GDP and 25% of the jobs created!
We will need a choir of innovators, folks such as Diana to extract the full value
of Jamaica’s resources in a sustainable manner.
What would you do to ensure that tourism in Jamaica continues to be the engine of this fragile economy?
Diana has a short term challenge that we can easily solve for her.
She is hosting the first service providers convention but need some help to get several communities there. The price tag is $1KUS.
Contact Diana at [email protected] for further detail how you can help.
In the subject line, write I want to support local tourism providers learn & shine
Join the chorus folks! Let’s hear from you.
