“Don’t worry about a thing. ‘Cause every little thing gonna be alright”. Bob Marley, one of the most famous singer-songwriter from the land of hospitality, Jamaica, said it in his leading song called “Three Little Birds”.
On June 24, 2017, H.E. Mr. C. P. Ricardo Allicock from the Embassy of Jamaica in Tokyo gave a session for JEMUN 2017. In his talk, he revealed the secret of the best performance in terms of tourism, which is “Hospitality”. So why does Jamaica have good hospitality? Also, how does hospitality affect its tourism industry?
Mr. Allicock pointed out that there is a geological, historical and cultural background behind its strong hospitality. Jamaica, located in the middle of Caribbean Sea, enjoys wonderful nature and weather, which makes not only local people but also tourists happy and kind. Jamaica also experienced a long colonized history by the British so people speak English, which contributes to the tourism industry a lot.
Mr. Allicock also said the warm Jamaican culture was a factor: Jamaican people do not divide local people and tourists and openness to everyone leads to strong hospitality.
Jamaica has been conducting ‘Community Based Tourism (CBT)’ to promote its economy in terms of tourism. One of the examples given by Mr. Allicock was the example of Bob Marley’s hometown, a small city that had no attraction at that time. After Bob Marley gained a status of unofficial national hero, many tourists have visited the city, which contributes to its development.
Even though Jamaica is trying to balance both the positive effect on its economy and protecting its environment, still they cannot avoid negative impacts on its environment by tourism industry. The upsurge of tourists to Jamaica has caused disruption to marine and other ecosystems of the region. For example, tourists’ footsteps in sand beach degrades its natural habitats. Also, the sewage produced by tourism industry pollutes its water and affect its ecosystem. Not only Jamaica but also the other Caribbean countries are facing this situation.
“Although we face problems caused by tourism industry, we can solve the problems as tourism industry grows more,” Mr. Allicock said. “The number of tourists are growing but it is not yet the point where we need to regulate the number of it.”
Promoting a tourism industry in tiny island countries is not easy in terms of its geological situation and international relations. However, like Jamaica, Caribbean islands are likely have unique-western mixed culture and beautiful nature which make people hospitable. “Shangri-La” is a place people try to reach, pursuing happiness. It is not a long way until the Caribbean become “Shangri-La”.
Words of Guest Speaker #4
Lessons from The Land of Hospitality: Is the Caribbean the next Shangri-La?
By Yoshiki Ishiuchi & Naoko Fukunaga
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