Question

Shauna-Kaye is in her mid-fifties. She is the sole investor in her homestay venture and supplied the capital through the modest savings she accumulated while providing caregiving services to the elderly in a private home in California over a period of seven years. In 2017, she used these savings to build a basic concrete and zinc, five-bedroom house on her inherited land in Montego Bay, set on an idyllic, palm-fringed tropical lagoon about 40 minutes by bus from Sangster International Airport. It is located in a village rich with Arawak history, slavery relics and old colonial buildings.

The large house was intended to provide accommodation for herself and visiting members of her extended family who were now living in other parts of the world. A representative of the local chapter the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association happened to visit her when the house was almost finished and remarked that it would be ideal for homestay tourism, and if Shauna-Kaye was interested, there was a small amount of support available to install plumbing, electric wiring, paint the house and to complete it to a standard suitable for tourist accommodation. Shauna-Kaye accepted the offer, and in 2018 the homestay

enterprise began.

Shauna-Kaye's first marketing initiative was to engage tourists visiting Montego Bay in conversation - something that with her outgoing personality, self-confidence and the excellent English gained during her seven years in California was no problem - and then, when they were impressed with the

friendliness of the local Jamaicans, simply ask them if they would like to stay in a real Jamaican village with a beautiful beach, not too far from Sangster's International Airport. This low-key, indirect approach worked well, particularly as she sold her vegetables and fruit at the daily markets in Montego Bay where budget tourists and backpackers tended to shop.

As Shauna-Kaye's business began to grow issues manifested i.e. her business became a target for criminals, Lonely Planet contacted Shauna-Kaye to partner in online booking but her community has no internet access, some guests also started to ask for amenities that Shauna-Kaye had no money to provide such as air conditioning and some of her neighbours expressed displeasure with the mode of dress of both male and female backpacker tourists.

Her visitors' book is full of praise from people from the United Kingdom,

Germany, Namibia, the United States and Korea as well as nearby from countries such as New Zealand and Australia, extolling her warm welcomes, her willingness to share her cultural heritage, her home and for the friendliness of the village community:

An extraordinarily friendly and entertaining visit - lots to learn about Montego Bay.

Finally, we found the true Jamaica!

Thank you, Shauna-Kaye. Our stay with you far exceeded our hopes for a real Jamaican experience.

The place to be! A part of the real sweet Jamaica.

There is a strong sense in these comments that it is Shauna-Kaye herself who is the main attraction of Shauna-Kaye's Homestay and that she manages to make every visitor feel that they are special, a welcome family friend rather than a tourist merely passing through. Marketing this is a little more challenging than marketing an idyllic location on a crystal-clear lagoon fringed by white beaches and gently swaying palm trees. Marketing it in a way that will ensure that the 'authenticity' of the Jamaican village experience is retained is even more difficult

The key issues for Shauna-Kaye and the parish council are to develop a strategic destination marketing plan that will continue to bring economic benefits to Shauna-Kaye and the village community while sustaining the traditional lifestyle and cultural values of their indigenous Jamaican community.

Balancing the benefits of village-based tourism with the constraints and possible negative impacts is not easy. Any strategic destination marketing campaign aimed at developing homestay accommodation in an indigenous Jamaican village needs to take this into consideration and to include a 'demarketing' plan that could be used if the negative impacts outweigh the positive.

Based of the case study answer the following questions:

1.Analyze the key constraints in Shauna-Kaye's current marketing strategies, and how these constraints could be addressed?

2.One of the key issues in this case study is the need to balance village

based tourist development with the conservation of the natural and social village environment. How could strategic destination marketing and the involvement of destination marketing organizations (DMOs) help this tourism venture to maintain this balance?

3.Shauna-Kaye's visitors' book indicates that it is her personality that is a key part of the attraction of this destination. How would you design a strategic destination marketing campaign that would market Shauna-Kaye as well as her village?