Bartlett says flare-up's damage to tourism repairable

Bartlett

OPPOSITION SPOKESMAN on Tourism Ed Bartlett said this week that any further damage to the tourism industry should be blamed on the actions of the state and their methods of dealing with crime and violence.

Mr. Bartlett said that tourism could not flourish in a state of social and political turmoil, "nor can it grow in an atmosphere of uncertainty when communities believe that they have been denied justice."

However, the Opposition Spokesman said that he did not believe that any damage attributable to this week's incident was irreparable.

"I, along with the Leader of the Opposition, have been on an active programme overseas encouraging investments in tourism and as late as Tuesday, even as we were in a crises, I received an e-mail from one of the largest hotel chains in the world, indicating that they still have interest in Jamaica and that their principals will be visiting Jamaica in another few weeks," Mr. Bartlett said.

"We remain fully committed to working with all interests in the industry to restore whatever fall-out may have been occasioned by the recent activities, as we are resolute that we must have a society where equal rights and justice are not privileges, but rights."

Mr. Bartlett said that even more serious damage had been done by the Government to the industry, by restricting its advertising budget to US$11.3 million and the problems with airlifting visitors from Europe. Prior to this week's flare-up, he said that hotel occupancy on the North Coast was already down to 16 per cent prior to the flare-up.

He said that he would be meeting with various leaders of the industry, both here and abroad, including Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association president Josef Forstmayr on the matter.

Mr. Bartlett said that he did not believe that cruise ship arrivals would be affected by the incident: "The sector has informed us that there is no fall-out once the Jamaica Tourist Board provides funds to tour operators co-operative advertising and appropriate advertising dollars are put into markets where returns are highest, we feel confident quality of product will survive.

"I am optimistic, based on my connections overseas discussions with partners that we will recover."

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