Demand and supply perspectives on diaspora tourism: the case of Guyanese in Toronto

ABSTRACT

The intersection between circulatory migratory travel and connections to the ancestral home constitutes diaspora tourism. Where there is a growing body of literature on diaspora tourism, the tendency has been to focus on demand side interactions and omit supply side perspectives. Using a conceptual framework underpinned by demand and supply side analyses, this paper provides a more comprehensive examination of diaspora tourism, focusing on tourism flows between the Guyanese diaspora in Toronto and their homeland. The study employs a mixed-method approach and the results show that there are significant misalignments between demand and supply that need to be addressed if Guyana is to reap optimal benefits from its largest visitor segment, the diaspora market.

KEYWORDS:

• Diaspora tourism
• tourism demand
• tourism supply
• migration
• Caribbean
• Guyana
• Toronto

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Sherma Roberts

Sherma Roberts is Senior Lecturer in tourism at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados. Her research interests include community participation, destination management, sustainable tourism, diaspora tourism, and tourism entrepreneurship. She chaired the 4^th Caribbean-International Tourism Conference, Navigating the Destination of the Future, held in Barbados in December 2019. In addition to her scholarly engagement, she serves as Chair of the Tobago Tourism Agency.