St. Lucia Simply Beautiful

Tourism is the major industry in the Caribbean. The diversity of the tourism product is one of the strategies for change which will enhance the rate of growth of tourism, indeed it will beautify the industry. Community Tourism is one such intervention. Please note that Mandeville in Jamaica will officially become the first Peace Town for Community Tourism in the Caribbean on November 19, 2013 at 10 a.m., when Louis D’Amore, President, International Council of Tourism Partners, USA will preside during the official ceremony. The IIPT Caribbean Community-based Tourism Study Tour and Conference will be staged November 18-23, 2013 at the Mandeville Hotel in Manchester, Jamaica.

Shepherding has recently been introduced in Trinidad and in the just concluded Bank on Me TV Reality show in Barbados. Based on the qualitative feedback from the shepherds that were assigned to each enterprise and the enterprises themselves, indications are that the hypothesis that “shepherding reduces the risk of business failure” will be upheld. I repeat, the major constraint arising from these three initiatives is the continuing difficulty to access quick response investment capital for the enterprises.

With that foundation of spirituality, may our political leaders exercise their powers to create innovative solutions. One innovative solution, in the spirit of smart partnership, is for the political leaders to formally surround themselves with the best brains available within their budget to develop these creative solutions sector by sector and then take step-by-step action to make it happen.

My recent experiences in Barbados and Trinidad have shown that there is no shortage of entrepreneurs with brilliant ideas but they must be nurtured in an environment of benevolent investment capital and shepherding to augment the rate of business success and protect the financial investment. The current “Bank on ME” reality TV show, quite apart from its entertainment value, has further shown the number of entrepreneurs out there who are in need of help, the value of shepherding in the improvement of the businesses in a few short weeks, and the need for a source of funding with is other than traditional loan financing.

“The Soul of Leadership aims to fill the most critical void in contemporary life, the void of enlightened leaders. ‘You can be such a leader,’ Chopra promises. ‘The path is open to you. The only requirement is that you learn to listen to your inner guide.’ In this unique handbook you are shown how to do just that, in words as practical as they are uplifting. The future is unfolding at this very minute, and the choice to lead it lies with each of us, here and now.”

Caribbean leaders in the public and private sectors would do well to avail themselves of any opportunity to read Chopra’s latest book and to listen to his engaging presentations on YouTube.

The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes and overlapped with and complemented the agricultural revolution. The need for this synergy is still true today. The Information Age (also known as the Computer Age, Digital Age, or New Media Age) is a period in human history characterized by the shift from traditional industry that the industrial revolution brought through industrialization, to an economy based on information computerization. The onset of the Information Age is associated with the Digital Revolution, just as the Industrial Revolution marked the onset of the Industrial Age.

In this Caribbean diversity lie opportunities and challenges. Where else in the world does one find such an attractive target market for adventurous tourists who are looking for destination diversity? Now that the global centre of gravity of wealth has shifted from West to East, there are many tourists and potential tourists with large enough disposable incomes to travel to their destination of choice anywhere on the globe. Therein lie the opportunities. Tourism is an export in the sense that it earns foreign exchange for a given destination. As for any other export industry the important factors in order to develop and sustain the industry are quality, price, continuity of supply and timeliness of delivery. Many tourists have limited time for their tourist experience and need to get to and return from their destinations safely, reliably, in relative comfort and as hassle free as possible. When they arrive at the destination they expect to be safe and to benefit from quality accommodation, meals and attractions which are commensurate with the money that they have outlaid. In short, without high quality air transportation and services we are “dead in the water”. Therein lie the challenges in marketing the Caribbean as a tourism destination.

Edgar Cayce (1877-1945) founded the non-profit Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.) in 1931, to explore spirituality, holistic health, intuition, dream interpretation, psychic development, reincarnation, and ancient mysteries. The mission of A.R.E. is to help people transform their lives for the better, through research, education, and application of core concepts found in the Edgar Cayce readings and kindred materials that seek to manifest the love of God and all people and promote the purposefulness of life, the oneness of God, the spiritual nature of humankind, and the connection of body, mind, and spirit.

If we think of the tourism sector, for example, the tourism marketing activity drives the sector because the more successful the marketing effort the greater the numbers of long stay and cruise visitors there are and the greater their total spend. We can think of tourism arrivals as the “big” wheel in an economic gearing system consisting of three wheels of differing size. The tourists spend money in hotels and tourism attractions, the “middle” wheel. Various services are provided to the tourists through other enterprises (e.g. restaurants, taxis, handicraft), the small “wheel”. When the big wheel turns one revolution, then the middle wheel turns several revolutions and similarly the small wheel turns several more depending on the gear ratios. So in the second and third wheels many jobs are created but the system is driven by the big marketing wheel. Similarly, for other sectors in the economy.

Whether inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs are involved in start-up, spin-out or scale-up enterprises, the major inhibitors to successful enterprise development and hence sustainable economic growth are (1) a quick response source of financial investment and (2) the shepherding process which mitigates the risk of business failure and protects the financial investment.