UNDER CONSTRUCTION (Fine Tuning)
The National Goals established for the Tourism Sector integrate aspirations for an Internationally Competitive Product that is Distinctly Jamaican in an Inclusive Sector that contributes to Economic Development, a Skilled Workforce & a Sustainable Environment.
Like the present National Tourism Sector, the reach of Community Tourism can extend far beyond tourism, generating Increased Community Capacities, Stronger Community Governance, Employment Creation, Poverty Reduction & Gender Empowerment as well as Enhanced Resource Appreciation & Protection.
The Rasta Routes Community Tourism Vision encompasses an invigorated tourism sector in communities that enriches community quality of life through social, cultural, economic & environmental benefits, exemplifies sustainable livelihoods & strengthens Jamaica’s national policy values & interests.
Our Goals for Community Tourism
1. Facilitate an internationally competitive, robust & inclusive Community Tourism sector;
2. Support local communities, appropriate entrepreneurs & NGOs in local communities to develop Authentic, home-grown, sustainable Community Tourism experiences of the highest possible quality available today;
3. Promote Environmentally-friendly Community Tourism that is consistent with & does not compromise resource protection, cultural integrity & community governance; and
4. Support Community Tourism in a manner that technologically creates the conditions to advance national policies & generate social, cultural, economic & environmental benefits for local communities.
A vibrant Community Tourism sector offers many benefits for Jamaica & Jamaicans.
The decision to explore Community Tourism was a defining moment for Jamaica’s tourism sector. Managed Strategically, it leads to the:
- Diversification of Jamaica’s tourism product to include a niche of increasing global demand;
- Provisioning of communities with an opportunity for economic diversification in tourism, a sector that already has a sound marketing & product development infrastructure to assist all participants to offer viable products in a parallel yet separate value-chain;
- Offer communities & individual Mom & Pop Entrepreneurs to directly participate competitively in today’s global Tourism market and provide avenues for diversifying & strengthening personal & parish economies, through business creation & growth opportunities, jobs, & tourism value chain participation; and
- Encourage greater commitment to natural, heritage & cultural protection, consistent with well-established civic pride.
Adding new depth & diversity to the sector by embracing widespread community participation in tourism not only responds to global market trends, but it also offers a vehicle to help achieve national aspirations for strengthening community quality of life through poverty reduction, gender empowerment & equality, improved security & natural, heritage & cultural protection.
Thus the social, economic & cultural benefits of a vibrant Community Tourism sector will serve communities well for this & future generations.
At the local level, Community Tourism can be seen as an incentive for the preservation of culture & heritage; the development & promotion of local attractions, & the fostering of cultural industries such as fashion, fine arts, culinary arts & theater.
It also supports the national thrust to protect Jamaica’s brand image through the diversification of local products in both type & design by way of the creation of Rasta Routes – an Authentic Jamaican brand consistent with & advancing the country’s national tourism interests.
Community Tourism will receive featured positions in Rasta Routes marketing strategies where efforts will be directed specifically toward the 18-34 year old demographic, with a Life is Laughter & Love psychographic profile, in geographic regions permitted visa-free entry into Jamaica for 30 Days or more.
This is because the community tourist has substantially different demographic, psychographic & behavioral characteristics than mass recreational tourism consumers to which Jamaica traditionally caters.
Of additional interest for Marketers to note, is the behavioral shift where the Post-2008 Financial Crisis consumer has moved from a state of anxiety to a state of action – and in some cases open revolt, as in France where the disgruntled are calling for mass bank withdrawals to collapse the “system”.
Consumers, like the very Banks & Too-Big-To-Jail Businesses that started the whole mess – have started to deleverage & unwind themselves from risk & liability.
Five Value Shifts Driving New Consumer Behavior
1. A Shift to Liquidity. Being Frivolous has become unfashionable with a growing trend in low-key tourism like agrotourism – visiting farms & vineyards. Consumers don’t want to be locked into fixed costs or to commit to pre-planned itineraries.
2. A Shift toward Ethics & Fair-Play, Empathy & Respect. Business must provide Values as well as Value. Increased emphasis is now placed on neighborhoods & communities as support systems, with a rise in volunteerism. Our goal in this aspect is to leverage visitor connections with their home community to Jamaican Community Development & encourage “VolunTourism” opportunities here that mutually benefit all involved parties.
3. Character & Professionalism matter again, likewise Personal Accountability, making today’s environment perfect for developing Jamaica’s Side Gig/Sharing Economy. Not only will Tourists be low on cash in their travel purses as the Global Financial Depression worsens and become more noticeable & publicly acknowledged, so too will the average Jamaican become more impoverished, & Community Tourism can hopefully can be our individual and collective Lifelines in the about-to-ensue, man-made Financial Storm of the Century.
4. A Shift to Durable Living – Today’s Consumer is geared for a Marathon rather than a Sprint. For example in the U.S. where consumers are holding on to Cars for longer than average, than ever before, 68% of Americans now hold a Public library card – the highest usage ever in history! Also explosive growth in Do-It-Yourself movement with 30% of homes built by owners getting their hands dirty or raising backyard chickens in order to be sustainable & take care of themselves.
5. A Shift in Consumer Trust (a Return to the Fold) where focus is now about connecting to their communities & social networks. Artisan movements are growing, as well as even ventures like “cow-pooling” where communities group to collectively buy fresh, healthy meat directly from organic farms.
Our Rasta Routes mission in regard to this “anti-Babylon” behavioral opportunity, is to organize, harness & give it meaning – by doing & saying the things Respectable Governments can’t.
It is clear that Community Tourism enterprises & most communities are just as enthusiastic & passionate about participating in Jamaica’s tourism sector as are Legion of Backpackers aching to finally consume a Safe & Authentic Jamaican Tourism product that accurately reflects our Local Daily Life & Experiences.
These Shifts in Buyer Behavior make the prospect of a Value-Conscious Vacation in a Safe & Hospitable Environment that is also Culturally Unique and puts money in the “Little Guy’s Pocket” significantly more appealing to the average Experiential Travel Customer.
Water is wet & sand feels grainy at almost every single beach that they have visited!
It is even more critical & necessary to Jamaica as a nation to offer “Value-Consciousness” as a Tourism Provider & Foreign Exchange earner – especially as the World enters a new era of geopolitical instability.
This all on top of the 2nd Half of the 2008 Financial Crisis – postponed longer than thought possible, but finally coming home to roost like proverbial chickens – but this time the Fowl fly back home riding a hurricane…
Jamaica’s embryonic steps into Cultural Immersion Tourism may actually be a God-send in this fast-approaching time of financial woe, as our new Community Tourism offerings can be the Low-Cost Leaders that attract new Experiential Travelers with a value-conscious mindset.
With luck, & some intentional strategic planning, having dual markets could avoid us having to significantly lower prices or engage in price wars with other 3S competitors in our Primary, Bread-&-Butter (for the moment), Traditional Tourism market, as recessionary fears eat away at travel industry momentum in the short-term.
By Winston Irie
