MANDEVILLE, Jamaica – The International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT ) Caribbean chapter has selected 16 representatives from Jamaica to attend the 1st IIPT European Conference in the Netherlands October 2008 and will be making an announcement soon of the names and role they will play at the IIPT European Conference. This is one of the outcomes from the recent 1st IIPT Community Tourism Retreat which was held in Jamaica in June 2008.
The Jamaican delegation will be headed by the Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett who was invited by the IIPT Founder/President Lou D’Amore as one of the Keynote Speakers.
Jamaica will be featured at the IIPT European Conference as ‘The Home of Community Tourism’ and all members of the delegation will be participating in presentations of community tourism case studies highlighting the Countrystyle Community Tourism Network’s Village Community Tourism programme. This programme was endorsed at the IIPT Community Tourism Retreat as an international approach for sustaining communities through tourism. The Ministry of Tourism’s Spruce up Jamaica programme was highly commended by the IIPT Founder/President Lou D’Amore who said of the programme “I am excited to showcase the programme as a model because of the positive impact it has had on Jamaica’s environment and people”.
Community Tourism has arrived after more than 38 years of development in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean under the leadership of Diana McIntyre-Pike, its pioneer. Recognized by the Ministry of Tourism as the ‘new tourism,’ which has the people at its centre; community tourism takes a giant step in presenting its achievements at this international conference.
Importance of IIPT European trip
Diana McIntyre-Pike’s opening presentation at the IIPT Caribbean Retreat spoke of the impact of community tourism on world travel and world peace. She said “every traveller is potentially an ambassador for peace, an ambassador for peace with others in our global village, an ambassador for peace with nature, and that vision is grounded in the 1980 Manila Declaration of the World Tourism Organization (WTO) which challenged the industry with a concept of tourism that emphasizes the social-cultural, economic, educational and political values of tourism. The Declaration emphasizes that the very existence of tourism is dependent on peace and that beyond its economic importance; tourism is potentially the most important vehicle for promoting understanding, trust and goodwill among people in the world.”
It is within this context that the Jamaican delegation travels to the Netherlands. The conference is organized in partnership with the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and is hosted by Stenden University, in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. The first IIPT European Conference is themed: “Bridging the North – South Divide through Sustainable Tourism Development” and will take place October 21 – 24, 2008.
