Pushing community tourism

Valerie Dixon, Contributor

THE AVERAGE Jamaican lives in a cocoon where, many times, he is isolated from even what is happening in the next parish. This can be viewed as both a good thing and a bad thing. It is good because it has allowed communities to develop aspects of their lives which are remnants of past cultures that have been passed down to the present generation.

It is bad because as a result of their isolation, many are not aware that we are now in the digital age. In this new age, people want to discover more about the world and its unique cultures that only the rich and famous were able to access and explore. Now, with the click of a button, these places can be revealed and interest to visit them can be encouraged.

Jamaica is fortunate to be among the few places left that have the remnants of many cultures from various parts of the world. We have managed to blend them into something that is uniquely Jamaican. Diana McIntyre-Pike was able to foresee the potential in this uniqueness and conceptualised an initiative that she named Villages as Businesses (VAB). Her Countrystyle Community Tourism Network has recognised that other countries have been able to create the market and economic environment that can bring buyers and sellers of exotic vacations together.

Villages as Businesses will allow Jamaica to do this and so create income-generating projects through community entrepreneurship. There are two Jamaican sayings that describe how this can happen. The first says, "if yuh nuh come, mi nuh send" and the other is, "hand go ... packie (pocket) come". In each of these cases, there must be face-to-face interaction in order to extract a win-win situation for the buyer and the seller.

Many Jamaicans are unaware of the economic benefits that can come their way through this demand for the community experience, hence many persons are apathetic towards it. However, with proper training, as envisioned by the advocates of the VAB initiative, when the local and foreign visitors "come" to these culturally endowed communities, the citizens can "send" them away with experiences that can figuratively "blow their minds".

Through training, the citizens can give the visitors a high-quality tourism product and the visitor will gladly go to his packie (pocket) and pay for the experience of a lifetime.

Every citizen, from youth to senior, should know about his or her community, even if he or she is not involved in community tourism. Every citizen should take pride in keeping his or her community as clean and attractive as possible. Communities need to be made conscious of the health risks that filthy streets and yards pose to everyone living in them and that cleanliness should become a habit. Environmental and personal-hygiene training should be offered to communities islandwide. Visitors mention this lack of cleanliness in many reports.

Catering to special interests

Local and international visitors have a wide array of interests. The Countrystyle Villages as Businesses programme can direct tours and individuals to villages with these special interests. As a result, entrepreneurial businesses can be created to cater to these visitors in areas such as bee keeping, orchid growing, church grave-yard tours, farming, fishing, hiking, cooking, mineral spas, storytelling, and others.

Once visitors are in communities, they have the need for restaurants, rest stops, a bed for the night, and breakfast in the morning after staying in the community for one of our numerous festivals or fairs.

The Western Hospitality Institute in Montego Bay is the main training institute of the Countrystyle VAB programme, and it covers a wide gamut of subjects such as basic hospitality skills, entrepreneurship, housekeeping, bartending, marketing, and many more. Courses are certified by the Western Hospitality Institute and students can study up to the associate degree level with their Village Tourism Operations Management programme through their School of Hospitality and Tourism.

The Countrystyle VAB programme can accommodate existing and potential entrepreneurs who can contact the network and be informed as to which village can produce the unique items that they require to market under the Brand Jamaica label.

Too often, persons from all over the world beat a path to Jamaica to learn from us and then beat us at our own game. Let us now learn and earn from the Countrystyle Villages as Businesses initiative, even while we share with others. We must, therefore, train our communities to be destinations within the domestic and international tourism marketplace.

rural@gleanerjm.com