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Who Really Benefits from Tourism?
Daily Gleaner Finance Blog
The minister of tourism, the honourable Edmund Bartlett, has announced that the government is expecting a five percent increase in tourist arrivals. This no doubt is good news but it raises questions about whether the public will benefit from these additional visitors.
<span style="font-style: italic">Every year there has been an increase in visitor arrivals but it seems that all sectors are complaining about not getting a piece of the pie. The craft vendors complain that they are not getting any visitors to their locations. They say that the number of visitors to their stalls is decreasing each year. The duty free shops have the same complaints and state that they too are not seeing the visitors. Farmers complain that they do not receive orders for goods from the hotels and are selling primarily to the local markets. Lastly the hotels themselves say that they are not making any money from tourism as the rates have to be discounted significantly in order to attract visitors.</span>
If we are to believe all of these parties then the obvious question is – ‘who benefits from tourism?’ If no one is benefiting from tourism then how are hotels surviving and why are new hotels being built? A basic concept of finance is that if a business continues to lose money each year then it will have to shut down. Currently I have not heard of any major player in the hotel market closing its doors although many small operations have shut.
The bigger question arises as to whether we are engaging in the wrong business or are we simply doing tourism the wrong way. If the aim of investment is to promote economic growth but everyone says that they are not reaping the rewards then perhaps the government needs to encourage investment in other areas. <span style="font-style: italic">Significant tax breaks have been given over the years and now that some of them are being removed the industry is struggling to survive. There are other areas of investment that could benefit from these incentives that might provide the benefits to the public that are so badly needed.</span>
<span style="font-style: italic">I think that the model for tourism and <span style="font-weight: bold">the type of tourist that we wish to come needs to be rethought</span></span>. <span style="font-style: italic"> It makes no sense to offer a product that can’t make any money. Despite the significant investment and incentives, the devaluation of the currency and the increase in visitors we still lag behind other tourist destinations. It is either that our concept of tourism does not work or those who are managing it are incapable of making it succeed. It seems to me that new ideas are needed in relation to how the country can reap maximum benefits from tourism <span style="font-weight: bold">if after 30 years of tourism there is no one who claims to be doing well from it.</span></span>
Daily Gleaner Finance Blog
The minister of tourism, the honourable Edmund Bartlett, has announced that the government is expecting a five percent increase in tourist arrivals. This no doubt is good news but it raises questions about whether the public will benefit from these additional visitors.
<span style="font-style: italic">Every year there has been an increase in visitor arrivals but it seems that all sectors are complaining about not getting a piece of the pie. The craft vendors complain that they are not getting any visitors to their locations. They say that the number of visitors to their stalls is decreasing each year. The duty free shops have the same complaints and state that they too are not seeing the visitors. Farmers complain that they do not receive orders for goods from the hotels and are selling primarily to the local markets. Lastly the hotels themselves say that they are not making any money from tourism as the rates have to be discounted significantly in order to attract visitors.</span>
If we are to believe all of these parties then the obvious question is – ‘who benefits from tourism?’ If no one is benefiting from tourism then how are hotels surviving and why are new hotels being built? A basic concept of finance is that if a business continues to lose money each year then it will have to shut down. Currently I have not heard of any major player in the hotel market closing its doors although many small operations have shut.
The bigger question arises as to whether we are engaging in the wrong business or are we simply doing tourism the wrong way. If the aim of investment is to promote economic growth but everyone says that they are not reaping the rewards then perhaps the government needs to encourage investment in other areas. <span style="font-style: italic">Significant tax breaks have been given over the years and now that some of them are being removed the industry is struggling to survive. There are other areas of investment that could benefit from these incentives that might provide the benefits to the public that are so badly needed.</span>
<span style="font-style: italic">I think that the model for tourism and <span style="font-weight: bold">the type of tourist that we wish to come needs to be rethought</span></span>. <span style="font-style: italic"> It makes no sense to offer a product that can’t make any money. Despite the significant investment and incentives, the devaluation of the currency and the increase in visitors we still lag behind other tourist destinations. It is either that our concept of tourism does not work or those who are managing it are incapable of making it succeed. It seems to me that new ideas are needed in relation to how the country can reap maximum benefits from tourism <span style="font-weight: bold">if after 30 years of tourism there is no one who claims to be doing well from it.</span></span>
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