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The posts on tourism and Kingston below make interesting reading, and I want to take the trend of thought in a slightly different direction without seeming to change the focus of that thread.
First, I’ll quickly state here that with our [*sarcasm button on] current success in fighting crime [*sarcasm button off], it’s in our best interest for tourism to continue to be relegated to Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, Negril and Port Antonio. While we continue to slaughter each other (a homicide rate of 60-plus per 100,000 is not a joke!!), the world pays scant attention. As soon as the tourists begin to walk the streets of Kingston regularly, however, it may be a whole different ball game!
Now let me be clear on the issue of tourists: I support the tourism industry 100-percent. I always have, and I might add that the success of this industry in a tourism-reluctant country such as Jamaica has reached the point where it’s today our largest or second largest foreign exchange earner. I deliberately use the phrase “tourism-reluctant” because I feel strongly that most Jamaicans have never fully embraced the concept of tourism as a major industry in our country. There have never been any attempts, for example, to add tourism to our local school curricula. And despite the work of people like Desmond Henry and Diana McIntyre-Pike and others in community tourism during the 1970s and 1980s, that concept has yet to take off.
But we’re not alone, as other countries like Trinidad and Barbados and Guyana have belatedly (long after Jamaica) recognized the value of tourism to their economies.
Now, whenever I think of tourism and Jamaica, I end up smiling to myself. Quite bluntly, I will say this: without Gordon “Butch” Stewart and John Issa, our tourism would be much less today. Whatever the shortcomings of the all-inclusive concept, those two giants (Stewart and Issa) have done much, much more successful work in marketing Jamaica than any version of the Jamaica Tourist Board that have sprung up over the last fifty years!
Consider, for example, the fact that although Errol Flynn played a huge role some 50 years ago in getting little Jamaica exposed, and despite the exposure from sources as widely different as Bob Marley in the 1970s and 1980s, the Bobsled team and the resulting movie “Cool Runnings” in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Reggae Boyz in the late 1990s, and our track and field superstars taking the notch even higher with their performance in Beijing, we still bring in a total of less than 300,000 tourists (both cruise and stopover) annually!
I cannot forget the fact that, to cite one best-forgotten example, Portia Simpson Miller was both Minister of Tourism and Minister of Sports back in the summer of 2004 when Jamaica’s athletes crowned the country in greatness with their high-profile performances in Athens. We failed to grasp opportunities then. Today in post-Beijing 2009, Jamaica has again failed dismally to market itself!
Let’s face it, the Jamaican decision makers at home have generally done a weak job of marketing our beautiful country, and time is running out rapidly! Many people suspect that Cuba is on the verge of opening up, and when that happens then it will be a whole new competitive situation in the Caribbean! (Please remember that all Caribbean countries, without a single exception, have today focused strongly on tourism as a major player in their economies.)
Our leaders in both government and the private sector have largely been unimaginative and lacking in creativity. Take for instance our tourism advertisement that airs on CNN each day between 7:00 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. What about this ad, when compared with Barbados’ tourism advertisement, for example, would make a tourist immediately book a flight to Jamaica? Damn, the tiny Bahamas boasts of an annual arrival figure of 500,000. Yet I’m sure that Jamaica is by far the most well known of the Caribbean countries!
But, like the mighty Titanic ship almost 100 years ago, Jamaica seems to have struck a iceberg (or some other stumbling block) and is slowly sinking. And there is no question that, all things considered, we are sinking slowly into that surreal world some call a failed state because of a combination of a failure of decisive, imaginative leadership, poor practices and activities at the grassroots level, and missed opportunities.
First, I’ll quickly state here that with our [*sarcasm button on] current success in fighting crime [*sarcasm button off], it’s in our best interest for tourism to continue to be relegated to Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, Negril and Port Antonio. While we continue to slaughter each other (a homicide rate of 60-plus per 100,000 is not a joke!!), the world pays scant attention. As soon as the tourists begin to walk the streets of Kingston regularly, however, it may be a whole different ball game!
Now let me be clear on the issue of tourists: I support the tourism industry 100-percent. I always have, and I might add that the success of this industry in a tourism-reluctant country such as Jamaica has reached the point where it’s today our largest or second largest foreign exchange earner. I deliberately use the phrase “tourism-reluctant” because I feel strongly that most Jamaicans have never fully embraced the concept of tourism as a major industry in our country. There have never been any attempts, for example, to add tourism to our local school curricula. And despite the work of people like Desmond Henry and Diana McIntyre-Pike and others in community tourism during the 1970s and 1980s, that concept has yet to take off.
But we’re not alone, as other countries like Trinidad and Barbados and Guyana have belatedly (long after Jamaica) recognized the value of tourism to their economies.
Now, whenever I think of tourism and Jamaica, I end up smiling to myself. Quite bluntly, I will say this: without Gordon “Butch” Stewart and John Issa, our tourism would be much less today. Whatever the shortcomings of the all-inclusive concept, those two giants (Stewart and Issa) have done much, much more successful work in marketing Jamaica than any version of the Jamaica Tourist Board that have sprung up over the last fifty years!
Consider, for example, the fact that although Errol Flynn played a huge role some 50 years ago in getting little Jamaica exposed, and despite the exposure from sources as widely different as Bob Marley in the 1970s and 1980s, the Bobsled team and the resulting movie “Cool Runnings” in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Reggae Boyz in the late 1990s, and our track and field superstars taking the notch even higher with their performance in Beijing, we still bring in a total of less than 300,000 tourists (both cruise and stopover) annually!
I cannot forget the fact that, to cite one best-forgotten example, Portia Simpson Miller was both Minister of Tourism and Minister of Sports back in the summer of 2004 when Jamaica’s athletes crowned the country in greatness with their high-profile performances in Athens. We failed to grasp opportunities then. Today in post-Beijing 2009, Jamaica has again failed dismally to market itself!
Let’s face it, the Jamaican decision makers at home have generally done a weak job of marketing our beautiful country, and time is running out rapidly! Many people suspect that Cuba is on the verge of opening up, and when that happens then it will be a whole new competitive situation in the Caribbean! (Please remember that all Caribbean countries, without a single exception, have today focused strongly on tourism as a major player in their economies.)
Our leaders in both government and the private sector have largely been unimaginative and lacking in creativity. Take for instance our tourism advertisement that airs on CNN each day between 7:00 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. What about this ad, when compared with Barbados’ tourism advertisement, for example, would make a tourist immediately book a flight to Jamaica? Damn, the tiny Bahamas boasts of an annual arrival figure of 500,000. Yet I’m sure that Jamaica is by far the most well known of the Caribbean countries!
But, like the mighty Titanic ship almost 100 years ago, Jamaica seems to have struck a iceberg (or some other stumbling block) and is slowly sinking. And there is no question that, all things considered, we are sinking slowly into that surreal world some call a failed state because of a combination of a failure of decisive, imaginative leadership, poor practices and activities at the grassroots level, and missed opportunities.
2009-02-07 Written by: Mark Thompson 
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