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Jamaica’s New Tourism Spiel: Beaches and Reggae and Jews

Kingston, Jamaica—This island nation boasts miles of pristine beaches, reggae music and the Western hemisphere\'s largest butterfly.\n\nNow, it\'s promoting a new asset to tourists: its Jews.\n\nFrom the tourism minister on down, Jamaican officialdom has embraced a plan to market the nation\'s Jewish history as a way of wooing a new segment of travelers.\n
[additional-authors]
March 9, 2010

Kingston, Jamaica—This island nation boasts miles of pristine beaches, reggae music and the Western hemisphere’s largest butterfly.

Now, it’s promoting a new asset to tourists: its Jews.

From the tourism minister on down, Jamaican officialdom has embraced a plan to market the nation’s Jewish history as a way of wooing a new segment of travelers.

New tours of Jamaica will offer travelers a rare look at the history of Jews on this Caribbean island.

No matter that Jamaica has just one synagogue and no rabbi, or that its Jewish community is down to around 200 people. It was once home to a Jewish pirate named Moses, according to one account.

Read the full story at WSJ.com.

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