Building Smart Communities for Sustainable Development: Community Tourism in Treasure Beach Jamaica Maurice McNaughton Mona School of Business and Management The University of the West Indies, Mona maurice.mcnaughton@uwimona.edu.jm Lila Rao Mona School of Business and Management The University of the West Indies, Mona lila.rao@uwimona.edu.jm Sameer Verma College of Business San Francisco State University sverma@sfsu.edu Abstract Tourism is an important economic activity, and a significant contributor to employment, growth and sustainable development for most of the predominantly small island developing states (SIDS) of the Caribbean, often considered the most tourism dependent region in the world. Tourism sector policies and strategies in countries such as Jamaica, that recognize the importance of sustainable tourism, and its contribution to long-term sustainable development goals, increasingly emphasize the critical importance of Community-based Tourism, given it’s intuitively natural alignment with the interests and greater inclusiveness of local actors and communities Notwithstanding its considerable appeal to diversification, inclusiveness and long-term sustainability of the sector, community-based tourism faces the perennial disadvantage of small operators not having the resource base, expertise and competitive capacity to establish a meaningful presence in mainstream tourism channels and destination markets. However the emergence of popular digital channels i.e. internet and social media, together with new low-cost, interactive, map-based technologies and indigenous content creates the opportunity for more active engagement of local community members and increased visibility of the community tourism product. This can help to enhance the interactions between community actors, other service providers within the sector, and ultimately the visitor and citizens within the local community. The research presented in this paper describes the Smart Communities project in Treasure Beach, Jamaica, often described as the home of community tourism. The project re-interprets the popular concept of “Smart Cities” within the Caribbean reality where the unit of analysis and experience for many Caribbean peoples is the Community, rather than big urban cities. The theme of this project - “Smart Communities, Smarter People” underscores the critical importance of engaged and empowered citizens and the role that broad-based digital literacy can play in ensuring that they are more aware, can participate in, and contribute to their own development and well-being in the emergent digital economy. We propose a framework approach for implementing this Smart Community initiative within a Community Tourism context Purpose: Tourism is an important economic activity, and a significant contributor to employment, growth and sustainable development for most of the predominantly small island developing states (SIDS) of the Caribbean. Community-based Tourism, given it’s intuitively natural alignment with the interests and greater inclusiveness of local actors and communities, is considered to be an important contributor to sustainable tourism. This research evaluates the potential for digital technologies to amplify the distinctiveness, enhance service delivery and ultimately contribute to the sustainability of Community Tourism contexts. Design/methodology/approach: The research empoys a form of “participatory action research” that involves active collaboration between researchers and practitioners. We propose a framework approach for implementing Smart Community initiatives within a Community Tourism context Findings: The human-centred, participatory framework approach described in this research can help tp to empower community tourism by providing increased visibility and enhanced service delivery. These outcomes can become important contribution towards enhancing inclusive and sustainable development and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable local communities – a key outcome for SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities & Communities Research limitations/implications: The research is ongoing with the value outcomes still emerging. The empirical domain is confined to single geographical context, so the findings and insights may not be generalizable. Practical implications: Beyond the emerging research insights, project produced specific digital artifacts such as geospatial data and technology platforms; process outcomes such as training, capacity-building and empowerment of the community members Originality/value: The map-based information and digital content is localized to a specific geographical context, using data mapped by local actors, who possess the best “local knowledge” about what the community has to offer. The approach and supporting technologies can be readily replicated into other communities Keywords: community-based tourism, smart communities, sustainable development, interactive community mapping Introduction Tourism & SDGs, Role of Community Tourism Tourism is an important economic activity, and a significant contributor to employment and GDP for most of the predominantly small island developing states (SIDS) of the Caribbean, considered the most tourism dependent region in the world1. Long before the UN SDGs became the preferred reference point and guideline for the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, the tourism industry with its local and regional connections was perceived as a high-potential vehicle for putting sustainable development into practice (Saarinen 2019). Policies and strategic planning in the Jamaica Tourism sector are substantially guided by the Master Plan for Sustainable Tourism Development (Commonwealth Secretariat, 2002). The Master Plan highlights the following primary objectives for a program of sustainable development of the sector: • Growth based on a sustainable market position built around Jamaica’s heritage – natural, cultural, historic and built • Enhancing the visitor experience through a differentiated product – through diversity of product while catering to an evolving market of niche interests; • Community based development - local actors and communities play a major role in defining, developing and managing the tourism experience • An inclusive industry - ensure that the benefits of tourism are spread widely and promote equity through greater linkages with support sectors – agriculture, arts & craft, self-employed service providers • Environmental sustainability – the environment is the product The combination of these objectives, (emphasis added) underscores the critical importance of Community-based Tourism to the sustainability of the tourism sector, given it’s intuitively natural alignment with the interests and greater inclusiveness of local actors and communities. Opportunities and Challenges for Community Tourism The tourism sector functions most effectively when there is data and information easily available about the tourism product as it provides the basis for awareness, choice and improved service delivery between the prospective tourist and operators. As the global tourism landscape evolves, there is an emerging market for an alternative tourism product that is heritage-, cultural- or nature-based and thrives on visitor-community interaction, exploration and exchange. Community-based tourism (CBT) offers a response to this market shift, by providing: • 1 diversity and niche: it embraces eco-tourism, cultural tourism, adventure tourism, recreational tourism, geo-tourism, heritage tourism, health tourism, farm tourism or whatever the community decides to offer. See World Travel and Tourism Council, Travel & Tourism, Economic Impact 2014, Caribbean. • inherently participatory: local actors and communities play a major role in defining, developing and managing the tourism experience. • linkages: Integrated approaches encourage linkages with other community activities – agriculture, agro-processing, art & craft, etc. Community-based tourism faces the perennial disadvantage that small operators in the local tourism sector have always faced, of not having the resource base, expertise and access to traditional mainstream channels of destination & product advertising. However the Internet and social media have increasingly become the preferred channels for access to tourism destination information. Combining these digital channels with new low-cost, interactive, map-based technologies and indigenous content creates the opportunity for the active engagement of local community members in the planning, development and increased visibility of the community tourism product, as well as enhances the interactions between the community, the tourism agencies, and other service providers within the sector. Making Community Tourism Smart Prior research conducted through the Caribbean Open Institute2, has demonstrated the value of citizengenerated, publicly accessible open geoData, in enabling the creation of derivative community tourism products and services and attendant economic opportunities that potentially affect the livelihood of communities, the nucleus of Caribbean societies (McNaughton et al. 2016; Young and Verhulst 2017). However, scaling these data-driven community initiatives towards sustainable ecosystems, especially in contexts where many of the community stakeholders have limited digital capacity and resources, will depend on the implementation of platforms and partnerships that go beyond publishing open data and APIs. Well-known examples such as Uber and AirBnB illustrate the power of platform-based business models to disrupt conventional markets and create communities of enormous scale, by brokering digitallyenabled service delivery between service providers and consumers. The research presented in this paper describes a “Smart Communities” project implemented in the Treasure Beach community of Jamaica. The theme of this project - “Smart Communities, Smarter People” re-interprets the global focus on Smart Cities within the Caribbean reality where the unit of analysis and experience for many Caribbean peoples is the Community, rather than big urban cities. It underscores the critical importance of engaged and empowered community actors that can participate in, and contribute to their own development and well-being in the emergent digital economy. This paper contributes to this discourse by proposing a framework approach for implementing a Smart Community initiative within a Community Tourism context. This framework contemplates key issues such as: What are the opportunities for Citizen-Generated-Data [CGD]? What role can Platform technologies play in enabling scale and accelerated deployments? The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. The next section examines relevant literature on Tourism and sustainable development, Smart Cities and Interactive Community Mapping. We derive a constructed definition for the concept of a Smart Community and highlight linkages with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is followed by a description of the components of a framework approach for implementing a Smart Community within a Community Tourism context. We then describe the application of this framework to an ongoing smart community initiative in Treasure Beach, Jamaica – the 2 http://caribbeanopeninstitute.org: a regional coalition of individuals and organizations that promotes open development approaches to inclusion, participation and innovation within the Caribbean, using open data as a catalyst home of Community Tourism. The final section discusses the emerging findings and contemplates strategies and challenges for replicating the framework approach in other community contexts. Literature Tourism and Sustainable Development Tourism has been identified as one of the world’s most significant industries to contribute and make a difference to sustainable development both locally and globally. This ability for tourism to contribute to sustainable development has been recognized in relation to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Tangible linkages between Sustainable Tourism and the seventeen SDGs3 have been articulated by several authors (Saarinen 2019; UNWTO 2018). The UNWTO Report elaborates on tourism’s opportunities for development, highlighting: prospects for women and youth, developing countries, rural areas and indigenous communities. These themes are of importance to the research project described in this paper. We focus, in particular, on opportunities in Sustainable Tourism to impact Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, and Goal 4: Quality Education. One of the drivers that is amplifying the importance of tourism for sustainable development is the emergence of the “sharing economy”. Often characterized by digital platforms such as AirBnB and Uber, this producer/consumer phenomenon presents new opportunities for entrepreneurship, more sustainable use of resources, and consumer cooperation in tight economic networks. However, in recent years, the digital platforms have turned into the most important actors in the global sharing economy (Gössling and Michael Hall 2019). Community based tourism (CBT) centres on the involvement of the host community in planning and maintaining tourism development, the aim of which is to create a more sustainable industry (Gössling & Michael Hall, 2019). The community participation in the tourism planning process is advocated as a way of implementing sustainable tourism (Okazaki 2008). Community-Based Tourism, often seen as an integral component of sustainable tourism, has a number of important attributes including: • Diversity & Niche Interests: CBT embraces a diverse range of tourism products including eco-tourism, cultural tourism, adventure tourism, recreational tourism, geo-tourism, heritage tourism, health tourism, farm tourism. Indeed, the product is defined by whatever particular indigenous attributes or interests the community chooses to develop and offer. • Linkages: An integrated approach to CBT can also encourage and facilitate linkages with other community-level economic activities such as agriculture, agro-processing, art & craft, entertainment, etc. Food and Agriculture Organization studies estimate that only 30% of the total food purchases by hotels represented local purchases. Efforts have been made in countries like Jamaica to establish Tourism linkages hubs (MInistry of Tourism 2013) that plug into the databases of related sector Agencies such as Agriculture and Manufacturing. • Inherently Participatory: By it’s nature, CBT is inherently participatory. Local actors and communities play a major role in defining, developing and managing the tourism product and experience. This 3 https://sdg.iisd.org/news/unwto-report-links-sustainable-tourism-to-17-sdgs/ active engagement creates entrepreneurial opportunities and ultimately sustainable sources of livelihood for the community. One of the challenges to sustainable tourism highlighted by the earlier referenced UNWTO Report, is the lack of comprehensive data on tourism’s impacts on sustainability. The Tourism sector functions most effectively with the free flow of data and information about the tourism product, service providers and consumer experiences, an assertion supported by the rapidly expanding popularity and prevalence of travel ratings and peer review sites4. Buhalis and Jun (2011) showed that the most popular search activity conducted online in the UK related to making travel plans (84%), followed by getting information about local events (77%), looking for news (69%) and finding information about health or medical care (68%). Ready access to current information provides the basis for awareness, choice and improved service delivery between the prospective tourist and operators in the sector, including hotels, attractions and other service providers such as restaurants, transportation and entertainment operators. McNaughton et al (CAPRI, 2014) highlight the value opportunities for Open Data to enhance the sustainability of the Tourism sector in developing countries like Jamaica (see Table 1). Table 1 - Value Opportunities for Open Data in Sustainable Tourism Impact Category Transparency & Accountability Market Efficiency Service Delivery & Innovation Greater Inclusion Experience & Outcomes 4 Value Proposition / Rationale • Increased transparency in the allocation and disposal of resources/funds for the development of the sector (i.e. Tourism Enhancement fund; JSIF – communitybased tourism development, etc.) • Enhanced tourism product information and diversity of choices for discriminating visitors with niche interests (eg. Sports-, Community- or Eco-Tourism) • Enhanced Market analysis and selective targeting through access to tourism origin data • improved quality of service delivery in support services such as transportation, entertainment and merchandising • innovation opportunities for Software developers and other service entrepreneurs • increased visibility and clientele for smaller hotel properties, attractions • community-based tourism initiatives • increased linkages between tourism and other sectors such as Agriculture and Sports Strategic Alignment (Sustainability) Community based development - local actors and communities play a major role in defining, developing and managing the tourism experience Enhancing the visitor experience through a differentiated product – through diversity of product while catering to an evolving market of niche interests; Growth based on a sustainable market position built around Jamaica’s heritage – natural, cultural, historic and built; An inclusive industry - ensure that the benefits of tourism are spread widely and promote equity through greater linkages with support sectors – agriculture, arts & craft, self-employed service providers eg. Zagat Restaurant Ratings (http://www.zagat.com) and Trip Advisor (http://www.tripadvisor.com/) Interactive Community Mapping Persistent gaps in the availability of reliable public open data for the Tourism sector can be mitigated with the use of Citizen Generated Data (CGD). Interactive community mapping (ICM) is a process that engages individuals in creating a map of their community (Shkabatur 2014). These maps can include the roads, buildings, local businesses, places of interest. ICM helps community members, governments, civil society organizations (CSOs) and development partners to pull on the collective knowledge of these communities and to become drivers of development. The potential for this mapping has grown considerably given the increased availability and accessibility of information and communication technology (ICT). Geo-spatial data has become increasingly available and accessible and inexpensive, simple technologies allow local residents to produce accurate and comprehensive maps with relative ease. Furthermore, the technology (e.g. the Internet) has enabled more collaborative production and cost-effective dissemination of this geospatial data. An important success factor for ICM is Internet penetration and digital literacy. The availability of Internet access facilitates the creation of interactive community maps, and the computer and data literacy enhances the pool of potential community mappers and the ease of training mappers in ICM tools. Internet access also enhances the usefulness of the maps produced as it allows the community members to access and work with the map on a daily basis. This recognition of the importance of digital literacy has been recognized in this research and therefore digital and data literacy training is an important component of the proposed framework. Young & Verhulst (2016) describe a community mapping project conducted in Kingston, Jamaica in 2015 which sought to combine open government data with crowdsourced mapping data to enable a more participatory development of a community tourism product. This initiative involved strategic partnerships with key stakeholders that were considered to be integral to the success of the project, namely government agencies, civil society organizations, developers, and a group of motivated community mappers. This initiative highlighted the importance of data from the crowd (i.e. service providers, and individuals) which could become at least as important as Government data in the open data approaches crafted for the Tourism sector. This basic premise is represented in the schematic model shown in Figure 1, where Data-driven initiatives in Tourism can be enabled by an initial foundation of Open Government data, but will ultimately evolve through additional layers of data that originates outside the Government. The community tourism context and the use of ICM represents a compelling domain within which to validate this hypothesis and is one of the key components of the framework proposed in this research study. Figure 1 – Data Schematic Model for Tourism Smart Community The concept of “Smart Cities” has become quite popular recently, with the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, mobile phones, smart grid infrastructure deployed by electric utilities, public video surveillance systems and other kinds of pervasive sensor equipment combined with Open Data policies at the national, provincial or city levels. Open North describes Smart Cities as “a form of data and networked urbanism” and offers the following definition (Lauriault, Landry, and Bloom 2019): “technologically instrumented and networked cities, with systems that are interlinked and integrated, and where vast troves of big urban data are being generated by sensors and used to manage and control urban life in real-time”. The preoccupation with technological solutionism in many “Smart Cities” initiatives often runs the risk of an over emphasis on technical infrastructure and a lack of focus on the resolution of complex and systemic social, economic and environmental urban issues, with little or no public engagement. “Smart Communities”, on the other hand, are deemed to be more relevant for developing regions where the focus is not as much on the technological opportunities but rather on social-inclusion, enabling citizens and supporting communities (Gurstein 2014). Within the context of community tourism, this project seeks to identify opportunities for bringing the effects of data-related technologies closer to impacting the day-to-day lives of ordinary citizens. It highlights the critical importance of engaged and empowered citizens and the role that broad-based digital literacy can play in ensuring that they are more aware, can participate in, and contribute to their own development and well-being in the emergent digital economy. In this regard, we frame the following definition of a “Smart Community” as being one that is: “full of smart citizens who produce / have access to data and information and can use it to improve lives; where local government works collaboratively with citizens to solve problems and empowers the public with the skills and information resources they need; where Innovators build data-enabled solutions and services and collaborate with Entrepreneurs to identify market opportunities for new business models, products and services that can enhance the social and economic well-being of the Community” A Framework for the Development of Smart Community Tourism While there is a pre-occupation with technology-enabled automation and sensorization in municipalities and big cities around the globe, our adapted definition of “Smart Community” contemplates how the Caribbean, can learn from these experiences, but also adapt them and re-define its own approach in a manner suitable to it’s own development priorities and resource constraints. For instance, we identify the following characteristics of a smart community within the context of community tourism: • Smart People – citizens that are digitally savvy and able to produce and have access to data and information that they can then use to improve their lives. • Climate Smart – stakeholders that understand and prioritise sustainable development that protects and preserves the environment. • Education – a focus on investing in quality primary and secondary education for future citizens. • Innovation –encourage entrepreneurs and innovators to collaborate to identify market opportunities and build data-enabled solutions and services. • Data –mechanisms for collecting and/or sharing quality geospatial data. • Brand –create an identity and become known for its unique value. • Collaboration –local government that works together with civil society to solve problems and empower the public with the skills and information resources they need. Several of these attributes emphasize an important role for data in the development of a smart community. The collection and sharing of the geospatial data is foundational for the success of these initiatives. In order to harness the potential value of this data there is a need for people who are digitally savvy that can produce, access and use the data. If this data is shared in an open format suitable for reuse then opportunities for innovation will arise. A framework for “building” a Smart Community in the context of Community Tourism has been developed to enable adoption and scaling through replication, as a means of accelerating innovation. The components of this Smart Community Framework are illustrated in Figure 2, and described in the following section. Figure 2 – Smart Community Framework Data and Interactive Community Mapping Community mapping establishes a foundational layer of digital infrastructure for a smart community. The collection of geospatial data through an interactive community mapping (ICM) component enables a participatory geoData process that engages individuals in creating the digital infrastructure of their community. The objective of this approach is to collect the data while helping the key stakeholders (e.g. community members, local government, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), and development partners) to harness the collective wisdom and knowledge of these communities. Traditional community mapping initiatives often seek only to produce map artifacts as the primary outputs. Sharing this crowd-sourced geospatial resource as open data can augment, scale and increase the effectiveness and relevance of interactive community mapping initiatives in developing contexts, and yield multiple outcomes: • • • Result Outcomes: Geospatial data and community map artifacts Process Outcomes: Training, capacity-building and empowerment of the community members Value Outcomes: New business ventures, commercial skills, community empowerment Platform Enablers Popular platforms such as Uber and AirBnB have demonstrated the power of platform-based business models to create communities of enormous scale, by brokering digitally-enabled service delivery between service providers and consumers. In the context of Smart Communities a platform approach can accelerate the opportunities for innovation by providing a common layer of services for software developers and integrators. These include the publishing a self service directory of assets such as APIs, templates and reusable Apps to provide a single entry point for all data sources within the sector domain. Such a platform should employ a “Digital Register” model to allow for multiple data custodians to manage and maintain the currency of authoritative data sources, thereby creating a stronger value proposition and reduced innovation transaction costs for data custodians (e.g. Government Agencies) and data consumers (e.g. Developers) across multiple community contexts. Anchor Applications (Apps) While the Data infrastructure is foundational, the target beneficiaries and users (small operators, citizens, tourists, etc.) do not consume data directly, but instead, engage and interact with the ecosystem through Apps. A core suite of functional applications make this data useful and usable in order to facilitate user engagement and also provide core functionality that encourages reuse for developers and entrepreneurs to pursue additional community tourism innovations. Actors/Partnerships Beyond establishing the digital artifacts that model the community and its offerings, successfully building smart community initiatives is primarily about mobilizing human capacity and a sustainable ecosystem that includes a number of key roles and partnerships, as represented in Figure 3: i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. Catalysts (Institutions) –entities or individuals that help to mobilize smart community initiatives. They advocate and facilitate government agencies and professionals to create and use open GeoData. They also spark interest and involvement by local community actors and they should have the influence to motivate governments and business to open up their data. They are involved in training and capacity building and research activities. Catalysts should implement standards and document APIs and generally provide a vehicle for enabling “easy access” to data sets. Catalysts can come from universities, research institutions, social arms of the government and other organisations. Enablers (Mappers) – individuals in the community who are identified as enthusiastic about technology and who know what is going on in their neighborhood. They are trained in basic geospatial data mapping techniques and carry out various activities including mapping their communities, and making the data available through mapping software such as OpenStreetMap. Builders (Developers) – Tech savy individuals that have the skills to turn Geospatial data into applications. Using Open Source tools and API's, they can turn ideas into prototypes. They are the geeks, programmers, students and businesses that can add value to and through the data and people that want to create applications or "value output" (like statistical maps, visualizations). Runners (Entrepreneurs) – Individuals or entities that can spot new opportunities and can take a prototype produced by the builders to the next level. They are in a position to offer jobs and find the right audience by reaching out to people that are willing to test and use apps created by the builders. They may contribute either financially or from a user / market perspective. Custodians (Data Owners) – these are the owners of Data that can be convinced of the merits of opening up and contributing their data assets to the GeoData ecosystem. They may be government agencies that collect and maintain GIS data assets, businesses or entrepreneurs that generate valuable spatial or attribute data. Users – there are the persons who interact with the real-world communities, engaged and empowered by the digital artifacts (maps, images, visualizations and mobile apps). They may include tourists interacting with communities, citizens learning about their heritage, geography, history, etc. Catalysts (Institutions/Agencies) Enablers (Mappers) see the value of GeoData, especially when Open. They know that "locals know best" and enable and teach people to Map. They advocate and facilitate government agencies and professionals to create and use open geodata. are enthusiastic about technology, they know what is going on in their neighbourhood. They love to go out, map and document what is there and how • • • • Sparking local involvement by "non-professionals" Motivating governments and businesses to open up data Training & Capacity Building, Research implementing standards, documenting APIs, opening "easy access" • • • • Mapping their Communities Making data available in OpenStreetMap Making data available for which the license is incompatible with OpenStreetMap creating metadata, describing and promoting datasets Builders (Developers) Runners (Entrepreneurs) are Tech savy, they have the skills to turn Geodata into applications. Using Open Source and API's, they turn ideas into prototypes spot new opportunities. Taking prototypes to the next level. Offering jobs and find the right audience • • geeks, programmers, students and businesses that add value to and through the data… people that want to create applications or "output" (like statistical maps, visualizations) in the broadest sense • • Reaching out to people that are willing to test and use apps created by the "Builders" Contribute either financial or from a user / market perspective Custodians (Data Owners) owners of Data that can be convinced of the merits of opening up and contributing their Data assets to the geodata ecosystem • Government Agencies that collect and maintain GIS Data Assets • Businesses, Entrepreneurs that generate valuable spatial or attribute data Figure 3: Key Actors in a sustainable smart community ecosystem Digital Literacy Within this human-centred, technology-enabled ecosystem, Digital Literacy / Data skills capacity building becomes an important component of the Smart Community framework. This component addresses the specific capacity-building required for local community members to actively participate in the project, such as the training of the community mappers in trained in basic geospatial data mapping techniques. More generally, it contemplates a broader digital literacy initiative, required to ensure that digitally savvy citizens are able to produce and access data and information that they can use to enhance their active participation in the digital ecosystem. This is especially important for youth, the future citizens of the smart community, and resonates with the targets under SDG4 – Inclusive and Quality Education, that advocates youth literacy and skills suitable for the modern digital economy. Case Study – A Smart Community Pilot in Treasure Beach Jamaica A pilot Smart Community project to evaluate the merits of this framework approach is currently being implemented in Treasure Beach, Jamaica. Treasure Beach is one of the premier Community Tourism destinations in Jamaica and the Caribbean and presents a suitable setting and context for implementing the “Smart Community” Pilot project - the first of it’s kind in the Caribbean. The Treasure Beach community is located within the five bays in a beautiful geographic region on the south-west coast of Jamaica, collectively known as Treasure Beach, Fort Charles, Billy’s Bay, Frenchman’s Bay, Calabash Bay, and Great Bay. The maturity of the community as a tourism destination is evident in the establishment of the Treasure Beach Destination Management Organisation (DMO), as a communitybased representative organization, and reflected in the stated Vision of the DMO: “by the year 2030, Treasure Beach will be known throughout Jamaica, the Caribbean, and the World as a successful and model community tourism destination that provides visitors the opportunity to experience Jamaican cultural and natural heritage through immersive experiences delivered by small and micro tourism enterprises” The Treasure Beach Destination Management Organisation (DMO) represents the tourism interests and entities within the five bays and coordinates the community of Treasure Beach to manage tourism in a way that celebrates local culture, protects the environment, and increases the economic benefits that flow from tourism to the Treasure Beach area. The DMO’s Articles emphasize the importance of human capital development for the sustainability of the Treasure Beach community, as noted in the following excerpts from it’s objectives: • provide the community with education skills and employment • educate, train, provide resources and awareness of issues that relates to tourism, the benefits and the impact on the community’s heritage and culture • provide knowledge and skills to mitigate risks to the sector, the community and its assets Applying the Smart Community Framework for Tourism in Treasure Beach The core components of the proposed Smart Community Framework described earlier, was employed in the Treasure Beach pilot project as follows: Community Mapping Three young persons were engaged and trained on mapping field techniques and the use of Open Street Maps. The mapping activity captured 171 location points-of-interest which represented 72 accommodations (hotels, villas, bed and breakfast, etc.), 90 service locations (food, shopping, banks, bars, etc.), and 7 attractions (beach, museum, nature, art) as depicted in Figure 4. Figure 4 - Map of Treasure Beach “Arawak” Platform A key enabler of the initiative was the development of a new community tourism platform called S.C.O.P.E – Smart Community Open Platform Ecosystem”, nicknamed “Arawak”. The platform featured a portfolio of Open Data, MicroServices and APIs, and sample mobile/web application code, to accelerate the development of innovative apps and services for a scalable community tourism ecosystem and was launched at the DevCA2019 Innovation Hackathon5. The name “Arawak” is the name of the first group of indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, and was chosen deliberately to reflect the originality and distinctiveness of community tourism. Anchor Apps The Arawak platform enabled the accelerated development of three (3) foundation data-driven community Apps: a. b. c. Digital version of Treasure Beach Map (mobile App) Digital Community Notice Board - What’s happening in Treasure Beach? Plan-U-Stay - A Mobile App that allows visitors to select options to optimize their stay in Treasure Beach These apps will be made available to the developer community to enable re-use and facilitate the development of future innovations. 5 https://www.developingcaribbean.org/; Partnerships/Roles A key enabler of the project was the development of a partnership, governed by a Memorandum of Understanding, between the project originators (Caribbean Open Institute6/Mona School of Business & Management) and the principal community stakeholder representatives (Treasure Beach DMO). A 3rd significant actor in the partnership was the DEVCA regional Innovation Event that provided the 1st opportunity to evaluate the Arawak Community Tourism Platform developed, and validate the “Smart Community” concept. DevCA includes a Hackathon event where developers across the region were able to “test drive” the platform by creating Tourism Apps and Prototypes. This provided regional visibility for the Tourism platform and the “Smart Community” initiative. The Treasure Beach DMO played an important role in identifying a principal project liaison and key community stakeholders, selecting community mappers, and supporting community outreach, visibility and buy-in for the Smart Community Pilot project. They were responsible for selecting the youth participants into the digital training programs. They also participated in ongoing consultation sessions during the project and supported the use of the “Treasure Beach” brand in association with the various Apps and Services developed. These partners and their commitments are highlighted in Table 2. Table 2 - Partnerships and Commitments Caribbean Open Institute • Conceptualize and overall program management • Mobilize funding / stakeholders • Building Prototype for “Smart Community” Tourism Platform • Training / Capacity Building for Community mapping initiative • Provision Tablet devices and Stipend for Community Mappers • Design M&E Program Treasure Beach DMO • Identify Key Community Stakeholders • Identify a principal project liaison • Select Community Mappers (x6) • Support community outreach & visibility / buy-in • Participate in Consultation sessions (Ideas generation) • “Treasure Beach” brand DEVCA • Regional Innovation Platform for validating the “Smart Community” concept • Hackathon event where developers create Tourism Apps and Prototypes using the Platform • Create Regional visibility for the Tourism platform and “Smart Community” initiative Discussion and Future Research The Smart Community pilot project in Treasure Beach, Jamaica is ongoing. The “action research” nature of this project provides a unique opportunity, working in one of the most well-known community tourism destinations in the Caribbean, to evaluate the potential for digital technologies to amplify the distinctiveness, enhance service delivery and ultimately contribute to the sustainable of Community Tourism contexts. 6 The Caribbean Open Institute (COI) is a regional coalition of individuals and organizations that promotes open development approaches to inclusion, participation and innovation within the Caribbean, using open data as a catalyst. The initiative has thus far enabled the mapping of detailed attribute information and media content for over 170 local points of interest within the community. The three anchor Apps are being integrated with the existing Treasure Beach DMO website, to provide the priority functionality identified by local community stakeholders. Developer workshops are currently being planned for the “Arawak” platform to create the impetus and resource base for additional innovations in the community tourism context. Beyond the technology artifacts, the human-centred, participatory approach of the project provides a number of benefits including: • The map-based information and digital content is localized to Treasure beach, using data mapped by local actors, who possess the best “local knowledge” about what the community has to offer. • Youth from the community have been trained to create and maintain the digital infrastructure (community mapping) to support the “smart community” initiative. This is an important capability that is currently being considered for other types of field-based data collection activities other kinds of mapping initiatives for public/private sector clients, thus providing alternative economic opportunities. • Small operators and individuals can claim and manage their own "place" data, and connect to other familiar digital channels such as social media. This enables the smallest operator (e.g. shop, bar) to create a digital footprint and manage their own online map presence. • The platform also allows for progressively adding functionality / innovations to the map using local developers. Given it was developed based on the concept of geographical areas, replication to other areas like Treasure Beach can be readily implemented. This research intervention will continue to support sustainability within the pilot communities as well as replication into other communities. Leveraging novel digital technologies and the framework approach described in this research can help tp to empower community tourism by providing increased visibility, enhanced service delivery and ultimately economic lift. We believe these types of initiatives can make a meaningful contribution towards enhancing inclusive and sustainable development and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable local communities – a key outcome for SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities & Communities. References Buhalis, Dimitrios, and Soo Hyun Jun. 2011. “E-Tourism.” Edited by Chris Cooper. Contemporary Tourism Reviews. Oxford. Caribbean Policy Research Institute. 2014. “Open Government Data: A Catalyst for Jamaica’s Growth and Innovation Agenda.” http://www.capricaribbean.com/documents/opengovernment-data-catalyst-jamaicas-growth-and-innovation-agenda. Gössling, Stefan, and C Michael Hall. 2019. “Sharing versus Collaborative Economy: How to Align ICT Developments and the SDGs in Tourism?” Journal of Sustainable Tourism 27 (1): 74–96. Gurstein, Michael. 2014. “Smart Cities vs. Smart Communities: Empowering Citizens Not Market Economics.” The Journal of Community Informatics 10 (3). Lauriault, Tracey P, Jean-Noé Landry, and Rachel Bloom. 2019. “Open Smart Cities Guide.” McNaughton, Maurice L., Michelle T. McLeod, Matthew McNaughton, and Julian Walcott. 2016. “Open Data as a Catalyst for Problem Solving: Empirical Evidence from a Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Context.” In 2016 Open Data Research Symposium,. Madrid, Spain. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4TpC6ecmrM7OEN6OVlIUXh1d1U. MInistry of Tourism, GOJ. 2013. “Tourism Linkages Hub.” 2013. http://www.mot.gov.jm/content/tourism-linkages-hub. Okazaki, Etsuko. 2008. “A Community-Based Tourism Model: Its Conception and Use.” Journal of Sustainable Tourism 16 (5): 511–29. Saarinen, Jarkko. 2019. “Tourism and Sustainable Development Goals: Research on Sustainable Tourism Geographies.” In Tourism and the UN Sustainable Development Goals A Virtual Special Issue of Tourism Geographies. Shkabatur, Jennifer. 2014. “Interactive Community Mapping: Between Empowerment and Effectiveness.” Closing the Feedback Loop, 71. UNWTO. 2018. Tourism for Development – Volume I: Key Areas for Action. Madrid, Spain: World Tourism Organization. https://doi.org/10.18111/9789284419722. Verhulst, Stefaan, and Andrew Young. 2016. “Open Data Impact: When Demand and Supply Meet.” http://odimpact.org. World Travel and Tourism Council. 2014. “Travel & Tourism, Economic Impact 2014, Caribbean.” Young, Andrew, and Stefaan Verhulst. 2017. “Jamaica’s Interactive Community Mapping: Open Data and Crowdsourcing for Tourism.” In Open Data in Developing Economies: Toward Building an Evidence Base on What Works and How, edited by Andrew Young and Stefaan Verhulst, 206–23. https://www.oapen.org/download?type=document&docid=1001043.
