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Dated: 1 October 2002
It’s winter once more for Jamaica’s tourism industry, the country’s largest foreign exchange earner. But it’s also only one year since September 11 and the ripples are still being felt, watering down hopes of a bumper season.
The massive lay-offs that occurred in the travel and related industries in the United States following September 11 and those caused by the spate of giant-company meltdown, to say nothing of the confidence stricken Americans who now use more ground transport than ever, have combined to wreak havoc on the demand for travel, both within and outside of the US.
With Jamaica not immune to global shocks, the country has been heavily affected by the fall-off in travel demand, forcing hoteliers to dig deep into their creative marketing minds, budgets and revenue base to woo specific types of visitors from particular areas in the US and other countries in order to cover part of the wound anticipated by this winter’s shortfall.
And, with Jamaica’s hotel and travel industry already bleeding from lower occupancy and throughput respectively, to say nothing of the massive increase in security and insurance costs, albeit experienced largely by the airlines, the entire industry, however, is pinning further hopes on the US not going to war with Iraq.
We now know that this threat of war, which could derail any return to normalcy in the travel and hotel industry, to say nothing of the likely disruption in the area of cross border trade flows of goods, services and investments is no longer with us.
The fear-calming agreement by Saddam Hussein to abide, however, may be temporary, as there is the chance that he could once more defy the United Nations weapons inspectors, in their efforts to ensure that all weapons of mass destruction are destroyed, consistent with the UN Resolution to which his allies have agreed.
Besides the hardships prompted by September 11 and the breakdown in US corporate governance, of which we have no control, there are several other determinant factors which may be more important than any, but definitely within our control.
There is no doubt that Jamaica has suffered tremendously at the hands of the local and international media, which report every gory detail of crime and violence. This came to a head during the gas riots three years ago and the killings in West Kingston last year.
These events, however, are far removed from the major tourism belts of Ocho Rios, Montego Bay and Negril, a point tourism officials have been at pains to point out to the world travel market in their thrust to reverse the negative effects.
But there may just be yet a bigger hindrance to tourism development, in the level of harassment by locals in the tourism districts. This has been a constant threat to the industry, particularly in the cruise ship sub-sector.
We have become too familiar with the several boycotts by cruise ship companies, citing harassment as their reason for leaving Jamaica, which is at the top of their list of exquisite ports that draw full capacity for their mega liners.
We also know very well that what we need to do. Put an end to harassment and crime and violence. This will not only result in more visitors to our shores, but also a revival of the industry generally, which continues to suffer from extortion, high cost of security and fall-off in labour productivity associated with absenteeism and high worker turnover.
However, with a new Minister of National Security, a new Minister of Industry and Tourism and a new chairman of the Jamaica Tourist Board, something must happen. Something will happen. We can see it coming … and shouldn’t it? In a small island of 2.6 million people.
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