Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism to Showcase Community Tourism at upcoming European Tourism Conference

HANOVER, Jamaica – The Hon. Edmund Bartlett, MP, Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism will head a delegation of tourism officials to the 1st International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT) European Conference to be held in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, October 21 – 25, 2008.

The Minister was extended an official invitation to be a Keynote Speaker by Louis D’Amore, IIPT Founder and President, at the IIPT International Community Tourism Retreat held at the Jamaica Pegasus, Kingston in June.

The 1st IIPT European Conference is being organized in partnership with the UN World Tourism Organization (UN WTO) and United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), and hosted by Stenden University, The Neatherlands. Theme of the conference is: “Bridging the North – South Divide through Sustainable Tourism Development.”

D’Amore said he was impressed and has been moved by the vibrancy and dynamism of the community tourism movement he observed under the leadership of Minister Bartlett’s administration during a recent visit to the island, when he attended the recent IIPT Community Tourism Retreat. He highly commended the “SPRUCE UP JAMAICA” campaign, and the positive impact it has had on Jamaica’s environment and people; a model which he was excited to showcase at the 1st IIPT European Conference.

The Ministry of Tourism’s Funding Agency, the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) played an integral role in contributing a $3million dollar sponsorship to support 30 community persons to attend the IIPT Community Tourism Retreat and to assist in the required research of 13 communities islandwide with the assistance of Interns from University Technology, Jamaica (UTECH), University of the West Indies (UWI) and Northern Caribbean University (NCU) to support small communities with ideas and properties to pool together with ideas to energize and further develop “COMMUNITY TOURISM IN JAMAICA.

In a letter to Minister Bartlett, D’Amore said, “I am impressed with how far community tourism has progressed since the last IIPT Community Tourism Conference in 2003. Your support to the further development of Community Tourism – as a “Pillar of Tourism” – and putting the “People” of Jamaica at the centre of tourism has been and will continue to be a significant factor in the successes of Jamaica’s Community Tourism initiatives.”

SPRUCE UP JAMAICA is an initiative of the Ministry of Tourism; its objective is to galvanize the Jamaican people around the vision of the “New Tourism”, each individual having a role to play in the development of the tourism product as a living organism.

The hallmark of the new tourism is that it is energized by the five pillars, the environment, the community, heritage links, craft development and the individuals mind, body and spirit.

At the IIPT Community Tourism Retreat welcome reception, the Minister of Tourism’s Special Advisor, Mr. Zachary Harding endorsed community tourism as “New Tourism” and saw this now as an opportunity for all stakeholders to work together in the interest of developing Jamaican communities as an integral part of tourism.

Minister Bartlett underlined his idea of the ideal “New Tourism”. He envisions “High-Touch” services catapulted by various programmes facilitating excellence in tourism service, hence, making high quality service the defining factor of the Jamaican experience.

And through a collaboration between the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) and the SPRUCE UP JAMAICA youth programme, 1,200 students have been enrolled in the summer programme. This was announced by Minister Bartlett at a recent media forum.

Congratulations were also in order for the IIPT Caribbean President & Chairman/CEO Countrystyle Community Tourism Network, Mrs. Diana McIntyre Pike for her hard work over the past 30 years, and her dedication and commitment to promoting Community Tourism in Jamaica and throughout the region. This was expressed and displayed through an appreciation presentation plaque by the Executive Director of the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) Mr. Ian Neita at the IIPT International Community Tourism Retreat at the Jamaica Pegasus in Kingston.