Tourism is definitely the principal industry on the majority of the Caribbean islands because of the largely incredible natural beauty and wildlife which appeals to hoards of "getaway hungry" visitors throughout the year. " (Sophia Southern, n. d. ). Tourism makes up about a sizable amount of the Caribbean's economy and employees.
The most important holiday centre in the Caribbean are Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Island, Jamaica, The Bahamas and Barbados.
Tourists are drawn to the Caribbean for many reasons some of the primary factors are:
Geography - The Caribbean which expands from the southern suggestion of Florida, go away the Gulf of Mexico and right down to the north-eastern hint of South America, attracts a great deal of visitors each year. The Caribbean has numerous landforms such as islands, mountains, waterfalls etc.
Weather -The Caribbean has a exotic marine climate which gives it an throughout the year sunshine and this makes it ideal for the winter tourists. The equator provides Caribbean heat `between 27-32C. It is called marine because of the influence of the ocean. During the day the sea is usually cooler than land. Winds blowing from the sea. This is one of the primary reason why tourists are drawn to the Caribbean, The environment attract visitor to the Caribbean through the winter period their country
Tourism activities in the Caribbean have usually centre surrounding the promoting of seaside visitors attractions: beaches, coral reefs, seaside water.
Beyond the wonder of the beaches, its dazzling blue water and attractive coral reefs, there are lush tropical rainforest, volcanic, a rich cultural heritage
Culture and Sandy Beaches
The Caribbean culture is
The white sandy beaches of the Caribbean islands are an impressive view to see and parallel to none. The Caribbean established fact because of its fine grained, smooth white sand
The opportunities of drinking water activities - When vacationer come to the Caribbean they would like to try normal water activities such as going swimming, sailing, and snorkelling
Community-based Tourism
Community travel and leisure is not a recent occurrence, it goes back to the first times of travel when vacationers were accommodated in monasteries, inns, homes and hostels. Community travel and leisure would depend on the community itself its attitude towards vacationer is identification of the value of holiday business and the steps it takes to promote and promote it. It needs the involvement of the city all together and a solid working marriage with the tourism sector.
Community-Based tourism prevails and can only be successful when there is a participation of the community where the product is situated. There may be full participation and therefore the community regulates travel and leisure in their local or limited involvement of the city personnel. (Coaching Travel and leisure in the Caribbean, Dec 2000)
Why Community Centered tourism
Jamaicans sometimes feel left out from the tourism industry and don't believe they take advantage of the tourism it is therefore very important to individuals to become stakeholder as they'll now have a reason to protect and support the industry.
Community tourism is identify as an avenue to support progress, environmental sustain-ability enhanced visitor experience and community development. This might result in it being an inclusive industry where in fact the benefits from travel and leisure are pass on more greatly. (Team Jamaica, 2000)
Benefits of Caribbean founded tourism
Increased occupation both immediately and indirectly.
Increased chance of social and ethnic intercourse.
Increased income - the improvement of infrastructure and augmentation of the community
Improve quality of life
Principles of Community Tourism
Community Tourism is a new appearance. It really is a spirit that distributed throughout all industries of the travel and leisure industry. Community Tourism is about degrees of relationships between your coordinator country and visitors.
What is appealing to the visitor is available among the assorted natural destinations, local resources and talents, and indigenous attributes of a community or area. Through visitor-community conversation, respective cultures are explored, ideas and information are exchanged, and new friends are created. (http://www. communitybasedtourism. info/en/community-based-tourism/community-based-tourism. asp, n. d. )
Community Travel and leisure fosters opportunities at the community level for residents wishing to take part more completely in the travel and leisure industry. This may range from organising bed & breakfast accommodation in a rural home to creating income-generating travel and leisure opportunities for a whole village.
Community Tourism is managed tourism in its profoundest sense, considering evolving travel fads in such areas as the environment, analysis and research, elderly people travel and other special interests.
Community Travel and leisure products and services are geared to address these developments and to fulfill the passions of growing travel market segments. Key clients includes:
The mature market
Study and Research categories, including schools, colleges, colleges and research centered organizations
Church groups
Environmentalists, botanist, ornithologists and mother nature lovers
The independent traveller
Afro-Americans
Caribbean Nationals - at home and abroad
The eye-sight of Community Travel and leisure is to expose the neighborhood resources and skills, and make the concept possible for residents. Community Tourism embraces eco-tourism, cultural tourism, adventure travel and leisure, recreational tourism, geo-tourism, heritage tourism, health tourism, plantation tourism and all the favorite special interest tourism.
Community-based tourism, therefore, is a mixture of tourism products offered at a community-level to domestic or international visitors. Inside the Jamaican framework, community-based tourism usually refers to visitor interaction with local people in the rural areas beyond the traditional resort areas. Community-based travel and leisure does not suggest that the rules that apply to traditional tourism sub-sectors do not apply them. The ideas of health insurance and safeness for visitor's drive tourism whatever the setting in which the product emerges.
Community-based travel and leisure, however, offers a distinctive chance of Jamaica. The process of community-based travel and leisure development if monitored effectively gets the potential to ease poverty and illiteracy. Community-based tourism also has the potential to build up the natural creative energy of Jamaicans by transforming average residents into entrepreneurs. It could be used to develop strong partnerships by twinning existing traditional tourism internet marketers with aspiring non-traditional tourism entrepreneurs. It can be combined with the existing travel and leisure product offerings to create a uniquely Jamaica experience. Community-based travel and leisure can be considered a stand-alone opportunity or a relationship of the original and the non-traditional products combined with Jamaican attraction, culture and heritage to create a community tourism nature that culminates in a truly Jamaican experience. Community-based travel and leisure can bring out the best in the Jamaican people
In producing community-based tourism products it is vital to understand that:
Local conditions, culture and knowledge will influence the outcome.
Each community has its own identify and values.
Tourism works within something.
The travel and leisure system defines the guidelines for local travel and leisure.
Developing a small business is a process.
International expectations play a substantial role in product development and marketing.
Each company on the team has a particular role to experiment with in the introduction of the community-based tourism product.
Failure to learn the rules and to deal with effectively and successfully the process ends in failure at the neighborhood and nationwide levels.
External Challenges
Global competition for travel and leisure business
The causes of globalization advocate the free movements of goods/services, capital and labour by checking the world market segments for trade.
Globalization has widened global corporate and business reach and control.
The challenge is that the spot now has to invest in achieving international standards.
Worldwide the hospitality industry is having difficulty attracting motivated and powerful employees because of its image as mostly offering low pay, low position careers, with long, challenging working time and difficult working conditions.
Modern technology is speedily changing just how business is conducted in travel and tourism. Along with the increasing use of personal computers by businesses to get competitive benefit and the dramatic increase in the utilization of the Internet by travellers, travel and leisure businesses have to purchase the new technology and educate their people in the use of these solutions to stay competitive.
The use of distance learning is revolutionizing campuses worldwide as, by using multiple technology.
Special attention must be paid to responding to the human resources needs of small, medium and micro travel and leisure businesses in your community which make up the bulk of the sector, and that happen to be locally managed and managed generally. . " (Morgan, CTO, 2001)
