Community Lifestyle Tourism

• Network/Villages as Businesses

Community Tourism and Community Development – Training Project Rationale

Tourism is a continuing growth industry with the potential to offer communities of all shapes and sizes unique development opportunities. 

Tourism is widely recognized for creating and sustaining jobs, and bringing new money to an area. 

It is undoubtedly important at a national level, particularly in terms of employment, foreign exchange, and international trade. However, what it means for individual communities can be and often is quite different. Every citizen cannot only be aware of its broad benefits but also have the opportunity to participate directly in and benefit from tourism.

Countrystyle Community Tourism Network

Diana McIntyre-Pike, President/Founder, Countrystyle Community Tourism Network/Villages as Businesses and President, International Institute For Peace Through Tourism (IIPT) Caribbean Chapter & Coordinator of the IIPT International Community Tourism Network

Definition of Community Tourism

Community Tourism was created in 1978 at my small hotel The Astra in Jamaica and marketed internationally through the International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT) to assist communities in realizing the direct benefits of tourism in their own environment. This resulted in the IIPT branding Jamaica THE HOME OF COMMUNITY TOURISM. Community Tourism is holistic. It is not a niche form of tourism but provides for every niche market in an unconventional model. It depends on the appreciation and quality of indigenous resources to generate income and provides a tangible incentive and practical vehicle for community development.

At the first International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT) Caribbean Conference, held in Montego Bay in 2003, it was agreed that “community tourism is community development through tourism.”