A recent Gleaner edition contained a very interesting article about the Jamaica Ministry of Tourism’s overlooking of the Jamaican Diaspora as a key tourist market. It gives the annual ‘Champs 100’ athletics event as an example of something that could be packaged and marketed to Jamaicans overseas.

It is no secret that Jamaica has yet to maximize its tourism potential. Only a small section of Jamaican society benefits from the current tourism model. Most Jamaican businesses don’t even get to smell the tourist dollar. On the other hand, overseas Jamaicans spend more money in Jamaica (therefore contributing directly to the local economy) when they visit than foreign tourists.

You can read the Gleaner article here.

In addition to that, one must remember that tourism has a very fickle side to it. Destination trends shift very quickly. Tourists from the Jamaican Diaspora will always be connected to Jamaica, regardless of whether or not Jamaica remains a popular tourist destination. The Diaspora is an untapped asset. The Jamaica Ministry of tourism should definitely look into this for another reason: The “Dudus” saga. The US and Canadian governments issued travel advisories to their citizens warning them about traveling to Jamaica. This has resulted in mass cancellations and losses of US $350 million for the Jamaican tourism sector (in less than 3 weeks).