Caribbean Tourism Organization values Diaspora

Diasporic Tourists valuable to Region’s Tourist Industry

By William Doyle-Marshall
The Diasporic community is now being acknowledged as a major contributor in the Caribbean tourism industry. “Forward Home: the Power of the Caribbean Diaspora” , a 50-minute film, produced for the Caribbean Tourism Organization, captures this reality in living colour.
   Trinidadian scholar Dr. Keith Nurse, producer of the film and lead researcher in a two year study funded by the International Development Research Center, brought his findings to Caricom community leaders here Wednesday as part of the 2012 Caribbean Week programme of the CTO.
   Professor Nurse and Hugh Riley, Secretary-General of the CTO recalled negative response to the initial proposal to get involved with the project. “When we started to talk about the Caribbean Diaspora people didn’t really get it,”Riley remarked. They questioned why the CTO was even concerned about the Caribbean Diaspora.

   The objections were based around a “foolish idea” at the time that Caribbean people were always going to go back to the Caribbean. There was also the view that Caribbean people assimilate into their new countries. As a result some objectors felt Caribbean nationals did not require special attention to be paid to them.
   Dr. Nurse’s study took two years, involved nine researchers and covered four Caribbean countries and diasporic tourism. Researchers looked at four global cities – Guyana and Toronto; Jamaica and London; the Dominican Republic and New York City; Surinam and the major cities in the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the Hague). The scholar and his team of researchers also  interacted with people and collected data as they looked at the movement of tourists and travelers as well as the flow of investment.
   The study proved that in Guyana and Surinam Diasporic tourist accounts for 70% of visitors to those territories, Without Diasporic tourist, Dr. Nurse observed there would be no tourism to speak of.
   In the case of Jamaica and the Dominican Republic – mature destinations with large tourism plants – and tourists in excess of a million visitors Diasporic traffic was a significant factor. Close to 30% of the traffic comes from Diaspora traffic.
   The CTO Chief spokesman emphasized reasons why the regional tourist body would and must talk to Caribbean people in the Diaspora.  “People are starting to understand the CTO would want to talk to Caribbean people. We are not some nondescript group which just blend into a society. We maintain a strong identity and we are proud of that. Our children who are second or third generation Caribbeans also identify very strongly with the Caribbean. Caribbean people don’t only want to go back to the country of their birth or to the country of their parents’ birth,”Riley explained.

  CTO officials are intrigued that Caribbean nationals in the Diaspora want to visit countries only 100 miles away from the country of our birth because they never had a chance to go there before migrating to Canada or where they now make their new home.
   “It is important for the CTO to help people to understand all of those aspects of why Caribbean people need to be talked to about coming to the Caribbean, the secretary general added. People from outside the Caribbean don’t really realize the Caribbean people love Caribbean vacations and they don’t understand that even though they have some similarities, the differences are amazing, Riley observed.
   At a press conference Riley talked about plans to improve service on behalf of the organization’s 32 members. Media practitioners also heard that CTO is in the process of rewarding members of the Diaspora for returning to the region and bringing along their family members and friends.