Above: Port Antonio

By the Caribbena Journal staff

Jamaica says it will be placing a greater emphasis on promoting volunteer tourism, or “voluntourism.”

Voluntourism typically means vacations where travelers are supporting some kind of charitable cause, from medical aid to community development.

Jamaican Tourism Minister Dr Wykeham McNeill said volutourism was a growing trend globally among travelers, who want to “engage in meaningful vacations by dedicating a portion of their stay to charitable service.”

Accordingly, it’s a market that McNeill said the Ministry and the Jamaica Tourist Board were making “every effort” to develop, with a particular emphasis on health tourism.

Local communities tend to benefit “socially, economically and culturally” from this kind of travel, McNeill said, “whether it’s new buildings being built, a clean supply of water being provided, or the provision of free health and dental care,” along with spending money in restaurants and shops.

That also led to “less leakage than there would be from conventional mass tourism.”