August 6, 2018. The International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT) International Year of Community Tourism and Peace, initiated in collaboration with Countrystyle Villages as Businesses, will end with a celebration at the IIPT International Community Tourism Conference at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Visitors’ Lodge in Kingston, Jamaica from November 12 – 15, 2018.

The Conference is in collaboration with Countrystyle Villages as Businesses, the UWI Open Campus, the Caribbean Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Livelihoods, Making Connections Work Ltd UK/Diaspora Connect 2022, the YES Foundation, the National Best Communities Foundation and the UWI Tourism Society. It will feature community tourism case studies from Jamaica, the Caribbean region and Africa and honour outstanding community tourism entities and persons at a Community Tourism Awards luncheon. The theme of the conference is “Building communities as businesses.”

Keynote Speaker will be the Hon. Audley Shaw, Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, who will share his support for the community development programme offered by Countrystyle Villages as Businesses and the Academy of Community Tourism in partnership with the UWI Open Campus. The programme’s guidance and training in hospitality, entrepreneurship and other skills enable villages and individuals to benefit from the diverse opportunities generated through community tourism.

Some of the special guests/presenters will include Mrs. Diana McIntyre–Pike, President/Founder of the Countrystyle Villages as Businesses, President of the IIPT Caribbean and Coordinator of the IIPT International Community Tourism Network; Pro-Vice Chancellor and Principal of the UWI Open Campus, Dr. Luz Longsworth; Dr. Louis D’Amore, Founder/President of the IIPT; Alison Kenning Massa, Vice-President Countrystyle Villages as Businesses; Dr. Marcia Brandon, CEO Caribbean Centre of Excellence
for Sustainable Livelihoods; Dr. Carolyn Hayle, UWI Mona; Melanie Taylor, President UWI Tourism Society; Gillian Rowlands, Vice President IIPT Caribbean; Valerie Dixon, Vice President Countrystyle Villages as Businesses; Mark Pike, General Manager, ATL Automotive Car Rentals; Jacqueline daCosta, Chairman National Best Communities Foundation; Paulette Jones, Project Director, Diaspora Connect 2022; Rev. Solomon Mruka, President/Coordinator, Africa Community Tourism Network; Barbados Community Tourism Network delegation; Lopinot, Trinidad and Tobago, delegation; Arlene McKenzie, Rastafari Indigenous Village St. James; Alexander Pike, General Manager R Hotel; James Samuels, Chairman, Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) Marketing Committee Kingston and the Tourism Product Development Co Linkages Hub; Valerie Veira, Executive Director, Jamaica Business Development
Centre (JBDC); Theo Chambers, Founder & CEO Access Jamaica.com & Caribbean VIP Discount Club; Sharon Parris-Chambers Public Relations Consultant/Publisher Caribnewsroom.com; and Dr. Kadamawe K’Nife, Lecturer UWI and Patron, Community Tourism Trust Fund (COMTRUST)

Following the conference, delegates are invited to take part in one of five Community Tourism Study Tours. Choices for the one-day study tours are: Kingston and Environs Community Experience Lifestyle Tour; Marvelous Mandeville and Resource Village Tour + Marcus Garvey and Taino Heritage, Manchester; Treasure Beach Community Experience Tour including Lover’s Leap, St. Elizabeth; South Coast Adventure Tour including YS Falls and Black River Safari, St. Elizabeth; and Beeston Spring Village Community Experience Lifestyle Tour, Westmoreland.

According to Diana McIntyre-Pike, President/Founder of the Countrystyle Villages as Businesses and Coordinator of the IIPT International Community Tourism Network, “this conference is an important one to show the economic benefits of developing rural and urban communities as businesses to promote and attract investment opportunities for local entrepreneurs in their own environment through training and education which we can provide from the Academy for Community Tourism (ACT) in partnership with the UWI Open Campus.”

For further information, please contact the Secretariat at:
IIPT Caribbean – [email protected] Tel: 876-507-6326