A few weeks ago, I received a phone call that would open my eyes to a side of the Jamaican diaspora I have only spent a small amount of time thinking about. It also got me thinking about a great heritage tourism opportunity for the country.

My last few columns have focused on the undeniable fact that Jamaica is a very strong brand around the world. We are not surprised that people want to be associated with Jamaica in some way, and this call from a man named David Dossett in Kingston, Ontario, Canada was another example of that strong pull of Jamaica.

He explained his story to me very simply: He is a white middle-aged Canadian who was always told that his grandfather’s family was born in Scotland and moved to Canada in 1907. However, a few years ago he stumbled on a huge discovery while helping his daughter with a family tree project: his grandfather was born in Jamaica!

He then attempted to do more research and encountered a problem that all Jamaicans can relate to: “dealing with the Jamaican governmental agencies to get vital records is a very frustrating experience.” Eventually he reached out to Brigham Young University in the USA because they had a television show called The Generations Project that helped people to trace their ancestry. They accepted him, helped with research and came to Jamaica and released an episode that aired on January 30 and is now available free online at bit.ly/generationsprojectdavid.

This member of the Jamaican diaspora found out that his grandfather was born in Comfort, Manchester and the family name was Sampson. They moved to Kingston and after the earthquake of 1907, boarded a United Fruit Company steamer at Port Morant and eventually settled in Toronto, Canada. The family was also black but lighter skin, “mulatto” as was the term used back then.

Naturally, interested in learning more about his heritage, David wanted to visit Jamaica and see where his family was from and experience some of the banana farming they had been involved in. The Generations Project carried him to Jamaica to film his visit and to meet with a genealogist to answer more questions about his family.

He was able to visit the ruins of the United Fruit Company building in Port Morant, cut some bananas and carry them, as well as visit parts of Manchester, including May Hill and Alligator Pond, as well as Coke Chapel where his grandparents were married.

These are not resort areas, but they were the places David wanted to visit. He wanted to understand his heritage and see the places where his family had lived. How many more David Dossetts exist around the world? How many more people would be motivated to visit these non-resort areas to learn about their heritage and expose their children to their connection to Jamaica?

We often think of the Jamaican diaspora as Jamaicans who left the island around Independence and since in droves. Those people are interested in their heritage and visit their respective towns when they get a chance, but would do so more often if targeted. That alone is a massive potential market of travellers, but if we expand the circle to include descendants of Jamaicans like David Dossett, then the potential grows exponentially and we have a potential heritage market that would bring new money to Jamaica, strengthen ties and spread the culture.

The Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture need to co-ordinate to facilitate this kind of heritage tourism. After the Olympics in China, everyone wanted to be Jamaican. With our continued feats on the world stage, our strong culture and popular music, there is no question that more people would be interested in tracing their Jamaican roots and visiting the island.

This is a way to boost tourism in a constructive way, preserving the beauty of the island and spreading the revenue around the island. David’s trip between Kingston, Ontario and Kingston, Jamaica is but one of many that should be happening every year.

David Mullings was the first Future Leaders Representative for the USA on the Jamaican diaspora Advisory Board. He can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/davidmullings and Facebook at https://facebook.com/InteractiveDialogue