05 NOV 2018: From Half Moon and Rose Hall to Goldeneye, Strawberry Hill, Sandals and Hedonism – not to mention a host of new entries that are currently building solid reputations – Jamaica is known for its iconic hotels and resorts. But there’s a new kid in town, with Airbnb now making a mark in a country and region not typically associated with the sharing economy.

“They are making a contribution in unusual places,” acknowledged Jamaican tourism minister Edmund Bartlett at the recent JAPEX travel show in Jamaica, adding that the development of the accommodation “sub sector” and its number one “disrupter” is not unwelcome in his country.

“Airbnb is now changing the face of accommodation. We now have communities that we never thought were even remotely possible to have tourism and they are now main drivers of accommodation in those particular areas,” he says – communities like inner city Trenchtown in Kingston, as well as other “harsh” areas.

“You’d never believe that the socio-economic mix [in such locales] would be attractive to a visitor,” he says.

There is also significant visitor interest in rural Jamaica – “deep rural areas where there are no traditional tourism arrangements, even infrastructure, and you find that the demand for that kind of experience is being met by the Airbnb market.”

Bartlett points out that the shared economy is growing in Jamaica, spurred by real estate development, but is not limited to accommodations. Transportation (with new models like Uber), for example, is “another unavoidable arrangement that we have to prepare ourselves for,” he says.

But he is quick to add that room and ride sharing is all part of the “democratization of tourism.”

“The importance of this, I believe, is the context of the inclusiveness that tourism is offering and is now enabling so many people to feel a part of tourism, and, more importantly, to benefit,” he says.

The sharing economy is just one example, Bartlett believes, of how technology is driving new tourism partnerships and creating “a wider stakeholder base.”

“Because tourism is really about people getting to connect with people and because of how diverse we are as a people, we need diverse accommodations because we have diverse experiences and diverse expectations,” he says. “And a complete destination like Jamaica is able to cater to all those demographic and psychographic profiles. This is very important.

“We see that these disruptions are here, and we are embracing them, we are not resisting, and we are building out the capacity to treat with them.”