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Double-digit increase in tourist arrivals not certain, says JHTA president
Carl Gilchrist, Observer staff reporter [email protected]
Thursday, April 17, 2008
President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), Wayne Cummings, says the much vaunted double-digit increase in tourist arrivals achieved last year and expected this year may not be achieved because of the financial problems in the United States.
"A bad economy there, ladies and gentlemen, means that the double-digit growth that we recorded in arrivals last year and that our minister of tourism speaks of so freely for this year, may well be in jeopardy," Cummings told the Royal Plantation Hotel staff awards .
Earlier this month, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett said a 13.5 per cent growth was projected for 2008, with expectations that visitor arrival figures would jump because of increased marketing and advertising strategies, as well as airlift initiatives.
However, financial difficulties in the US have persisted, with some analysts saying the country is in a recession, while financial experts have shied away from labelling the situation as such.
But according to Cummings, "Anyone who sees as a real possibility the loss of their jobs, of their homes, is not very likely to make a decision to go on vacation any time soon."
Cummings said for such persons to vacation it "would be like an alcoholic with financial problems, drinking a bottle of white rum in the hope that when he becomes sober the problems would go away. If that were possible, then we should all seek to become drunkards."
However, he said that luckily for us, we seem to be far more sober than most other places. Jamaica, he said, has "embarked on a programme of marketing diversification that has as its background, the investment, both in advertising dollars and travel trade support, with an improved thrust into the higher-end or luxury markets (which are more likely to withstand the economic shock) as well as putting much of our focus on Europe, in particular the emerging markets of Russia and the Baltic states".
Turning to crime, Cummings said our seeming inability to reduce the scourge of violence in our society was another challenge for Jamaica's competitiveness.
He warned that if a way was not found to stop exacting violence on each other, we were running the risk of being alienated from the rest of the modern world.
At the awards ceremony, Royal Plantation thanked its staff members who performed well last year.
Among the many awardees were Daderia Dunn from the accounts department, who was voted most improved team member; Eveth Hemmings of housekeeping, voted supervisor of the year; Peter Henry, engineering manager, voted manager of the year; Keneisha Yap-Shing of the kitchen and Janet Myers of housekeeping who both shared the general manager's award; and the big one for the night, employee of the year, going to Fabian Walters of the accounts department.
Carl Gilchrist, Observer staff reporter [email protected]
Thursday, April 17, 2008
President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), Wayne Cummings, says the much vaunted double-digit increase in tourist arrivals achieved last year and expected this year may not be achieved because of the financial problems in the United States.
"A bad economy there, ladies and gentlemen, means that the double-digit growth that we recorded in arrivals last year and that our minister of tourism speaks of so freely for this year, may well be in jeopardy," Cummings told the Royal Plantation Hotel staff awards .
Earlier this month, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett said a 13.5 per cent growth was projected for 2008, with expectations that visitor arrival figures would jump because of increased marketing and advertising strategies, as well as airlift initiatives.
However, financial difficulties in the US have persisted, with some analysts saying the country is in a recession, while financial experts have shied away from labelling the situation as such.
But according to Cummings, "Anyone who sees as a real possibility the loss of their jobs, of their homes, is not very likely to make a decision to go on vacation any time soon."
Cummings said for such persons to vacation it "would be like an alcoholic with financial problems, drinking a bottle of white rum in the hope that when he becomes sober the problems would go away. If that were possible, then we should all seek to become drunkards."
However, he said that luckily for us, we seem to be far more sober than most other places. Jamaica, he said, has "embarked on a programme of marketing diversification that has as its background, the investment, both in advertising dollars and travel trade support, with an improved thrust into the higher-end or luxury markets (which are more likely to withstand the economic shock) as well as putting much of our focus on Europe, in particular the emerging markets of Russia and the Baltic states".
Turning to crime, Cummings said our seeming inability to reduce the scourge of violence in our society was another challenge for Jamaica's competitiveness.
He warned that if a way was not found to stop exacting violence on each other, we were running the risk of being alienated from the rest of the modern world.
At the awards ceremony, Royal Plantation thanked its staff members who performed well last year.
Among the many awardees were Daderia Dunn from the accounts department, who was voted most improved team member; Eveth Hemmings of housekeeping, voted supervisor of the year; Peter Henry, engineering manager, voted manager of the year; Keneisha Yap-Shing of the kitchen and Janet Myers of housekeeping who both shared the general manager's award; and the big one for the night, employee of the year, going to Fabian Walters of the accounts department.
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