Desmond HenryTREASURE BEACH: Those of us in the business of warm weather tourism marketing have, for sometime now, been watching a constant decline in the time spent on beaches by visitors, consistent with warnings in keeping with discoveries of medical science. All that was needed, it seemed, was a high-profile personality to be affected by the hazards of the sun, so as to put pressure on sun destinations to start developing alternative tourism for their own survival. So feared, so happened.
The recent affliction with melanoma (skin cancer) by the US presidential contender John McCain has put the international spotlight squarely on the direct relationship between the sun and human beings. Medical (and media) reports are now suggesting that too much sun does, in fact, aggravate the possibility of melanoma. Visitors to sun destinations are being warned left, right and centre to not only spend less time in the sun, but to consider whether they need the sun at all. Without realising it, media scare is developing in our primary market, and sun destinations like Jamaica need to see it for the real danger it poses to our tourist industry. This is one we can't ignore.
But the direct links between sun and skin cancer did not happen overnight. I certainly saw it coming, and I suspect others did as well. As a matter of fact, when in 1980 I first mentioned the concept of Community Tourism, it was done in a context of anticipating the trend, and to invite deliberate investigation into alternative tourism. I remember describing it then as "off-the-beach" tourism, and went on to articulate a number of ways in which the concept could be a godsend to opening up other parts of the island to our warm weather visitors. As a result of all this, Diana McIntyre-Pike and I formed Countrystyle Ltd., for the main purpose of marketing community tourism to those visitors who wanted to spend less time on the beach, while being in Jamaica. A major part of our marketing was our theme -- "Where the beaches end, our countryside begins." Our theme was a vital part of our message.
We challenged ourselves to develop all kinds of alternatives to sun, sand and sea. And we did. For example, we developed village festivals, unusual farm tours, bed and breakfast, country garden tours, great houses and country market tours, spiritual tours, academic tours, village weddings, sabbatical exchanges, bird-watching, heritage visits and many other lifestyle and hobby interest tours.
The point is that there was at least one organisation that saw the early writing on the wall, and moved to do something about it. Then came the recent South Coast development study. After putting our case and our examples before the study team, they unhesitatingly supported our thinking and, after doing their own investigation, issued a final report saying that as far as south coast tourism was concerned, Community Tourism should be the engine of its expansion. You would think, therefore, that with all this historical, technological and common sense support, that those who control the centre of the industry's development would, at least, be anxious to sit and talk with Countrystyle. Right? Wrong.
For some inexplicable reason, we have had the darnedest hard time getting the attention of those at home with responsibility for the industry, to even recognise our existence. Enquiries from overseas about the details of community tourism are being compromised and shunted off without any form of responsible consultation. Planning meetings about its future are scheduled without Countrystyle's participation. The real irony is that among destinations in the Caribbean (including Cuba), Countrystyle has been invited to form partnership and share its Jamaican experience on managing community tourism. And so if, like me, you feel that sun-induced skin cancers may now cause us to considerably hasten our search for alternatives, so much the better.
As worldwide geography barriers diminish, and life experiences and economic benefits become more widespread, leisure destinations will not only have to widen, but will have to offer far more choices than we do today. The markets will be flooded with options. Potential travellers will have endless choices beyond sun, sand and sea. Development dollars to create man-made attractions (in areas like golf for example) will literally pull the tourism rug from beneath the feet of the stand-patters. We will have to show far more boldness and daring in our tourism management. We might yet owe a debt to John McCain for his regrettable dilemma.
THE BOTTOM LINE: When eating a fruit, think of the person who planted the seed.
Desmond Henry is a marketing strategist based in Treasure Beach, St. Elizabeth.
