THE SHRIDATH Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services, University of the West Indies (UWI) – Cave Hill, last week presented their research findings at a workshop under the theme: Innovation Nations.  The project, funded by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), was hosted by the Canadian International Council (CIC) and the Centre for Trade Policy and Law (CTPL), Carleton University/University of Ottawa at the University Club of Toronto. The workshop, which follows through on the CIC’s report released this summer titled: ‘Open Canada: A Global Positioning Strategy for a Networked Age’, focused on sectoral studies in health, education, financial services, information communication technology; and on case studies of Diaspora Tourism between Guyana/Toronto (which is the focus of this piece) Jamaica/London, the Dominican Republic/New York, and Suriname/the Netherlands. 

The stage for the Toronto/Guyana Diaspora Tourism paper by Dr. Sherma Roberts titled ‘Unearthing ‘new’ Gold: An Exploratory Analysis of Diaspora Tourism Flows between Toronto and Guyana’ was set by Dr. Keith Nurse, project leader and Director of the Shridath Ramphal Centre, and by Jason Jackson PhD candidate in International Economic Development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Typically, one thinks of Diaspora Tourism as travel from developed countries to less developed countries of origin.  But even developed countries are now seeing an opportunity to garner a bigger share of the competitive tourist dollar by getting their citizens working and living abroad to spend their vacation dollars in the home country. 
This has been the case in the UK, where a recent report estimates Heritage Tourism contributed £20.6 billion — more than advertising, car manufacture or their film industry.

Another example is India, which is tapping into increased population mobility and more bi-directional travel arising from an increase in the Brain Circulation phenomena (as apposed to the unidirectional Brain Drain idea) to capture Diaspora tourism spending.

Earlier immigrants who left India and established careers in the developed world are now in a position to take back acquired skills, capital, and the benefits of their network of connections.

These examples are noteworthy for Caribbean countries, which, as a whole, are some of the most tourism-dependent areas of the world, and which have seen sharp cuts in tourism revenues in the wake of the global financial crisis.

Guyana is not quite in the same category as many of its Caribbean neighbours, but it has the largest overseas-based population in the world, relative to its resident base, and therefore significant Diaspora Tourism potential.

Dr. Roberts, who is a lecturer and the programme leader for the M.Sc. Tourism and Hospitality Management programme at UWI, suggested a two-pronged strategy identified by their research. One strategy is to diversify the target markets to include countries like Brazil and China.  She acknowledged that this may appear to be an overreach, with a payoff from this by no means assured, but is of the belief that the risk of the investment is justified by the possibility for increasing the market size.

The other strategy, more relevant to Diaspora Tourism, is product diversification, which she frames in language that resonates with the Guyana situation with the statement: “A beach is a beach, is a beach. If I showed you a picture of a beach in the Maltese, or one in the Bahamas or Barbados, you would not know the difference.”

Dr. Roberts said that with this thought in mind, some countries are moving to events, festivals, sports and medical tourism, for example. 
This creates reasons to travel year round, and fills in the gaps between the traditional Christmas and the summer seasons.  The staging of World Cup Cricket and Carifesta X in Guyana were two very successful events of this type.

Another attractive characteristic of Diaspora tourists is that they spend more — between $500 and $1,500 per person.  And they spread their spending around more: In gifts to friends and family at restaurants, stores and supermarkets so that it touches a wider swath of the economy. 

Dr. Roberts’ research indicated that many of Guyana’s Diaspora Tourists are retired from the finance or IT sectors.  They travel every three to four years on average, mainly for episodic events like weddings and funerals and at Christmas or Easter.

Their main motivation is to reconnect with friends, with pleasure a secondary motivation.  They mainly book through travel agents (Second-generation Diasporans tend to use the Internet). Although they tend to stay with family, their preference is for hotels.  However, they do not have a good sense of what’s out there in terms of product offering and standards. 

Dr. Roberts attributes this to a weak distribution channel.  Unlike Barbados, Trinidad or Curacao, the Guyana Tourism Authority does not maintain a dedicated tourism office in Toronto for example.  The good news is that this can be remedied easily.

Another big concern is the ease of access to and within the Guyana destination.  The issues around convenience and cost of single carrier access are well known.  Dr. Roberts recommends exploring an alliance with Air Canada.

Finally, Dr. Roberts notes that a number of countries have their Tourism Ministry bundled with other Ministries.  Countries focused on raising their game in this area are undoing this and removing the split in focus, with the intention of maximizing results in the sector.  Or, as Dr. Roberts puts it in Guyana’s case — with the intention of unearthing ‘New’ Gold.