THE LONG-overdue survey on the impact of the diaspora on Caribbean tourism will be released at the Caribbean Tourism Organisation Diaspora Forum at Caribbean Week in New York next Friday, June 10.
The survey, conducted by the Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services (SRC) of the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies, discovered some very interesting findings regarding the economic contribution of the Caribbean diaspora to the region's leading industry.
"We are confident that this report will put into perspective in a tangible way what the impact of the diaspora is. All these times it has been conjecture, we know the numbers are there, but have not been able to qualify or quantify the impact," said Irwin Clare, managing director, Caribbean Immigrant Services, New York.
"This should direct the resources, not just dollars and cents, but the full gamut of how you market and sell to this community," he argued, adding that there has been no clear marketing strategy for this community.
money, support needed
His comments were cemented by Felicia Persaud, publisher of Hard Beat News, who described the exercise as a "very good thing coming out of an institution like the University of the West Indies".
She said the tourism ministers and their respective tourist boards now needed to put their monies where their mouths have been, adding that too often they have paid lip service to the diaspora.
In a presentation titled 'Diaspora Tourism: Strategic Opportunities for the Caribbean', the SRC will demonstrate how improvement in the financial well-being of the Caribbean diaspora helps make the Caribbean tourism industry more competitive.
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