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Hello {{ first name | friends}},
Lauren McQueen popped into my inbox one day, and we had a delightful conversation. I’ve often been struck by how tourism marketing appears to largely target the former colonisers, and her wish to connect the Diaspora with their heritage to the benefit of both seems a breath of fresh air. Please meet Lauren…
Lauren, tell me briefly about your background prior to founding Cousins Across the Sea
Before exploring this initiative, I was initially creating content about afrodescendant communities in the Americas. Having studied Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies at University, I noticed the strong cultural influence of afrodescendant communities across South and Central America. However, these communities haven’t always been given visibility or the recognition that they deserve. As someone of Caribbean heritage, it honestly blew my mind how much commonality I found across many of these cultures and this is something that really stood out to me when I lived in the city of Salvador in Brazil. I was able to really immerse myself in the local culture and it made me realise how much I hadn’t done that in the islands of my heritage.
After this trip, I began brainstorming what heritage tourism would look like for those within the UK who identify as Second or Third Generation Caribbean. How could we change tourism, an industry that the islands still heavily rely on, to be mutually beneficial for both the tourist and the host?
So many of us who identify as British Caribbean, especially Black British Caribbean, find ease in exploring countless countries but struggle to visit the countries of our heritage either because it’s too expensive, we don’t have connections with our relatives there or we just feel a bit removed from the islands of our heritage. However, many of us still have a desire to reconnect with them. This desire was really highlighted to me when I created a post sharing the idea of having more hostels in the Caribbean to help provide more accessible accommodation for young people. This alongside growing concerns of the declining population of the Black British Caribbean community really inspired me to take this further and explore how we can align tourism campaigns with a more heritage focused lens.
Give me the elevator pitch for Cousins Across the Sea
Cousins Across The Sea is a platform dedicated to encouraging more touristic endeavours centered around reconnecting the Caribbean Diaspora with the Caribbean islands and individuals from those islands. Many traditional tourism models are exploitative and rarely give back to the community they take from. However, this initiative is all about a fair exchange, enabling members of the diaspora to connect with their heritage whilst also providing local businesses a new market from which they can benefit. I believe that there is a bit of a disconnect between the Caribbean diaspora and Caribbean islands and I want to work to heal that gap so that we can build towards a more interconnected and supportive future.
And in more detail?
We have two main goals:
1 - Exploring how to get decision makers to encourage British Caribbean tourism towards the Caribbean islands.
Many tourism campaigns feel targeted at a demographic who seldom look like individuals who identify as British Caribbean. Creating more initiatives that explicitly target the British Caribbean community is one of our main focuses. We want to make the islands feel accessible for the British Caribbean community as it has the potential to bring great returns such as an interest to stay in the islands outside of high season as well as an interest in connecting with and investing into locals.
2 - Creating connections between local business owners and members of the Diaspora.
The traditional tourist rarely ventures further than their resort or hotel, meaning that local businesses often miss-out on opportunities for income, especially if they are located away from the coast. I am looking to create a hub where people can access accommodation, tours and businesses they either want to visit or invest in. As someone who identifies as second generation British Caribbean, it can be so hard to even know where to start before I land in the islands. Whilst there are some mentions on social media, I want to formalise these recommendations with contacts and better access so that more people feel incentivised to invest locally and establish more relationships.