Jamaica has been branded the HOME OF COMMUNITY TOURISM by the
International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT) as this is where it
was pioneered 45 years ago by Diana McIntyre-Pike owner/operator of The Astra Country
Inn Mandeville then and the late Desmond Henry, a past Director of Tourism. Together they created the Countrystyle
Community Tourism Network (CCTN) to develop community tourism mainly on the
south coast of Jamaica.
In more recent years, CCTN developed a non-profit membership
organization called VILLAGES AS BUSINESSES (VAB) which has received local and
international recognition. Diana McIntyre-Pike has received several awards for
this initiative, the most recent being in 2020 from the newly formed World
Tourism Network (WTN) as one of 17 Tourism professionals to be awarded an
international Tourism Heroes Award.
The Villages as Businesses (VAB) programme has been implementing a
five-day Entrepreneurship Hospitality Training in several communities in
Jamaica and the Caribbean region which is now certified by the University of
the West Indies (UWI) Open Campus. The training covers personal development,
research of existing and potential assets, environmental awareness, tour and
product selection, business development, security and COVID protocols. One of the Jamaican Diaspora organizations, Making
Connections Work UK, has endorsed the VAB and marketing COMMUNITY ECONOMIC
TOURISM as the umbrella approach.
The Countrystyle Community Tourism Network (CCTN) has recently
decided to have the Jamaican and Caribbean Diaspora as its investment and
marketing partners. It has created a
special community tourism fund called COMFUND with an interim Diaspora Board. COMFUND is now registered in the USA and is presently
being finalized with a financial institution to facilitate donations and potential
investment. The interest on COMFUND will
support low interest loan and grant funding for qualifying sustainable
community development projects submitted by members of Villages as Businesses. All future CCTN Community Lifestyle Vacations
and Tours will include a contribution to COMFUND.
A partnership has just been finalized with a Caribbean Diaspora
organization mobile application platform called TravelJamii which will be
rolled out in September 2021. The
TravelJamii App will enable the Global Community to experience everything
Caribbean, by promoting tourism, community tourism, major brands, local
businesses, attractions, events, cuisine, history, nature, news and more.
