Countrystyle

We are Countrystyle International, the pioneers and primary advocates of the concept of Community Tourism in Jamaica and the Caribbean. Our core mission is the sustainable development and empowerment of communities, through development, marketing and partnership; making communities; “destinations for development”!

We believe in the people of the Caribbean and are focused to stimulate relationships across borders through tourism for the benefit of both host and visitor.

Community Tourism seeks to shift the traditional mindset of tourism into an avenue where communities across Jamaica become empowered, educated and involved in tapping into the international tourism market; opening up new niches for destination Jamaica, most notably the nature-culture-adventure traveler. It is sustainable and seeks to build on the natural and cultural ‘capital’ of a specific area. Therefore, Community Tourism is about new levels of relationship between host and visitor; it seeks to market lifestyles and experiences that are authentic and natural.

Through community tourism marketing, schools, business places and the ‘community personalities’ become attractions and a part of the product. It seeks to diversify the Jamaican offering by promoting the ‘many Jamaicans and many Jamaicas’  - a promotion which is directing interest on Jamaica and its communities in new ways, producing opportunities for other sectors of the economy and creating new tourism partners and entrepreneurs. Community Tourism produces vacations which are highly experiential; and the diverse experiences to be had in Jamaica apply to a wide cross-section of new markets which have been un-tapped. Experiences are numerous: culinary, sports, historical, adventure, ecological, health  & wellness etc

Therefore, Community Tourism is both an integrated approach and collaborative tool for the socio-economic empowerment of communities through the assessment, development and marketing of natural and cultural community resources which seeks to add value to the experience of local and foreign visitors and simultaneously improve the quality of communities.

The Countrystyle Community Tourism Network was created to support the development of community tourism in Jamaica and internationally and to educate all stakeholders of its importance to the cause of peace, poverty alleviation and sustainable development and  to offer local and foreign visitors diverse ‘community  experience’ vacations and tours. In addition to this, to provide business development, training, marketing and low interest & grant funding facilitation support for community entrepreneurs.

Due to visitor demands internationally for vacations that include more interaction with the community lifestyle, Countrystyle Tourism created a Village programme to encourage citizens of Jamaica to manage their community as a business by developing a business plan. This should include their vision for sustaining an economical future within their own environment and to assist them in designing diverse  ‘community experiences’ for local and international visitors to enjoy.

The fundamental vision of the Countrystyle Tourism Village Programme is to empower and develop communities on a sustainable basis, dynamically marketing and exposing their natural culture, talents, passion and potential to the world – stimulating entrepreneurship and opportunities within their local environment and packaging each community as a unique destination or product within Jamaica. 

Included in the  Countrystyle Tourism Village vacation experience  are interesting outreach community projects which is marketed as ‘pick a project’ and ‘adopt a village’ while on vacation which has become very popular with visitors wishing to improve the lifestyle of communities whilst enjoying the community attractions and lifestyle which has had the effect of creating repeat business.

Communities are destinations for development; for within them they hold the destiny of the country. Communities can be marketed as destinations within the ultimate destination of Jamaica. Marketing of these destinations creates an image and a brand; a brand which can be used in an export strategy.