By Bevan Springer
NEW YORK – The dictionary defines “Diaspora” as any group that has been dispersed outside its traditional homeland.
In the Caribbean’s case, this dispersion of nationals represents a rich source of intellectual and financial capital. The Caribbean Diaspora, scattered across the Caribbean, North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, and remote destinations in Asia and the Pacific, represents a passionate, upwardly mobile and influential market that if strategically tapped will aid immeasurably our home region’s development.
While preparing a news release for next month’s Caribbean Media Exchange on Sustainable Tourism (CMEx) meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which will explore the theme “Embracing the Diaspora, Connecting Communities,” I reported that the Hispanic-American market, which is part of the Caribbean Diaspora, now spends so much that it is estimated that their buying power will reach US$1.2 trillion by 2011. Marketers are chomping at the bit to race aggressively into a market which in just three years’ time, will represent one out of every six residents in the United States.
Speaking at an American Foundation for the University of the West Indies event in New York this year, Denis O’Brien, Chairman of the Digicel telecommunications giant, encouraged members of the Caribbean Diaspora to invest in business in the region.
“There are massive opportunities today in Haiti and Guyana and countries that may have not had much investment over the last 10 years. We will be encouraging people in Europe, Ireland and here in the US to really have a look at the Caribbean. The Caribbean is on fire economically at the moment – there is so much development going on and it’s going to be a great base for the future.”
The Caribbean Diaspora, often referred as the VFR or Visiting Friends and Relatives market, remains a largely untapped market from an investment perspective.
Re-directing the resources of Caribbean nationals into Caribbean investment will help propel the Caribbean’s economy forward. Inaction limits the Caribbean to a modest rather than exponential growth rate in the future.
The Diaspora is intellectually rich and financially strong and has been only partially exploited by Caribbean marketers and national and regional government agencies.
Latin American and Caribbean migrants send billions in remittances to their homelands each year, transferring some US$66.5 billion back home in 2007, about seven percent more than in the previous year, according to estimates by the Inter-American Development Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund. About 75 percent of those flows come from the United States.
The Dominican Republic topped the Caribbean, receiving US$3.1 billion, followed by Jamaica at $1.9 billion. Haiti took the third spot with $1.8 billion in remittances received from migrants.
As the Caribbean places more and more emphasis on tourism to meet its economic needs and boost foreign exchange reserves, our destinations should be careful not to overlook niche markets.
In New York City, the easily harvested “low-lying fruit” includes Caribbean-Americans and African-Americans who have not been consistently courted except for some destinations like Antigua & Barbuda, Bermuda, Bahamas, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia and Trinidad & Tobago that are increasingly recognizing the huge revenue potential of these loyal markets.
Caribbean-Americans have high disposable incomes, own their own homes and arguably spend more money “on island” than the “mainstream” American visitor who may typically spend only three to four nights in a particular destination.
Nowadays, the Caribbean-American traveler is opting not to stay with Mum and Dad or Granny and Auntie, but rather not only in the large but increasingly the intimate, small hotels of the Caribbean which offer that “down home” Caribbean flavor in a relaxing, family environment.
Caribbean people are not just interested in going to their home town, village or island, they want to experience the rich variety of their home region. As they savor that nostalgic taste they leave behind thousands of dollars in precious hard currency not just in hotels and resorts, but in villages and communities, and at festivals and sporting events.
As for the African-American, there is really little difference since so many African-Americans can trace their roots to the Caribbean. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, singer Harry Belafonte, journalist Andria Hall, marketing czar Michael Deflorimonte and actress Cicely Tyson are only a small sampling of those who call the Caribbean home.
And even for those without a direct ancestral link, our common history and culture make the Caribbean region truly a home away from home for our American brothers and sisters.
It is disappointing that some top tourism operatives are still not aware of the obvious size and influence of the Caribbean Diaspora.
We sometimes hear the ridiculous rhetoric that Caribbean people don’t stay in hotels and are not a viable market worth tapping.
Assuming one falls prey to such thinking, aren’t Caribbean-Americans at least worth courting so that they will use their efforts to promote our region to the cherished mainstream American traveler?
If equipped with the tools and information, couldn’t Caribbean-Americans encourage their firms on Wall Street to hold their next convention in Curaçao? Or could the Caribbean-American sway their Brooklyn church leadership to hold a retreat in spirit-filled St. Lucia?
I exhort our leaders to think out of the box and not to view each other as competitors but realize that the world is truly our real competitor.
With some new leaders in charge of Caribbean tourism following recent elections – from Barbados to Jamaica – Caribbean people should start taking the lead in charting our own future for the sake of our children and our children’s children. As Bob Marley once advocated, we should strike off our fetters of old thinking and embrace the emancipation of the mind from mental slavery.
