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Best winter season ever - Bartlett
By Al Edwards
Friday, March 27, 2009
The minister of tourism, Edmund Bartlett, is declaring that this year's winter tourism season is the best Jamaica has ever had despite the global financial crisis which is having a negative impact on many destinations.
Edmund Bartlett
Speaking with Caribbean Business Report from his office in New Kingston, Bartlett said: "The tourism market internationally is in a very unstable situation at the moment with practically every destination showing a downturn. I have just returned from Berlin where we had the UNWTO Residents' Committee Meeting. Now that committee really deals with stimulus for the industry and posits ways of overcoming the difficulties in the market and provides a road map for the way forward through these turbulent times. Signifcantly, Jamaica was cited as one of the four countries in the world that is bucking the trend.
"We are certainly the only country in this region that is showing growth. The winter season is halfway through and from December 15th to March 14th, preliminary data show that we have welcomed 464,589 visitors in that period. Last year at this same period we had 453,000 visitors. That is a significant performance against the background of the projections that our tourism numbers would be 30 to 40 per cent down with reasonble justification at the time, given the fact that forward bookings were weak. However, we in the industry that manage the macro perspective knew what was going on because of the kind of level of marketing we were doing and our advertising efforts on the key markets that would respond to Jamaica."
Jamaica gets most of its visitors from the United States, but with that country now experiencing a major economic downturn it comes as no surprise that visitors from the United States are down 4.3 per cent with 83,813 arrivals.
Despite this, Bartlett sees this as a great performance and a testament to the Ministry of Tourism's efforts. While visitors from its traditionally biggest market have dropped off, visitors from Canada have serged by as much as 37 per cent in January of this year. Figures for February are not yet in, but the arrivals from Canada have continued pretty much apace.
Europe has also been flat with a total of 21,594 stopover arrivals, a decrease of 5.8 per cent when compared to the same period in 2008. Visitors from the UK were down 5.7 per cent with 13,382 arrivals. Germany is proving a growth area for Jamaica with that country's economy remaining remarkably resilient. Here arrivals were 2,035, an increase of 1.7 per cent.
"The Caribbean is a very interesting market which is registering significant growth. It is showing an increase of 3.5 per cent in January with arrivals of 4,746. Last year, the Caribbean grew by eight per cent for the full year. We will be focusing more on this market as we seek to diversify even more to get the increment from the marketplaces to make up for the downturn in the United States," said Bartlett.
Spring Break has been good to Jamaica
Jamaica has benefitted from the Spring Breakers staying away from Mexico largely due to high incidence of criminal activity in that country. How does Bartlett view this boon to the country?
"The Spring Breakers are a March phenomenon," said Bartlett. "We showed growth in January, we also showed growth in February and now in March, to date, we are up 12.2 per cent. This figure can be attributed in part to Spring Break.
"The importance of a good winter in this difficult time is a security for the rest of the year. This winter performance guarantees us the best winter season Jamaica has ever had. It should be noted that this performance took place against the backdrop of a global depression. The numbers for April should be good when one factors in the Easter period. I must say here that bookings look reasonably good so far for the summer, although they are booking a bit later than usual."
Better Airlift
A problem facing many Caribbean destinations is airlift, but Bartlett said that this is a problem that Jamaica does not face. Last year he brokered a deal with American Airlines to take up the slack left behind by national carrier Air Jamaica's decision to cut a number of routes.
"We have done tremendous work with airlift," he said. "The team with John Lynch and Lionel Reid have travelled and met with everybody and we have secured for this summer adequate airlift. We are much better off now out of Europe, particularly in Italy where we have secured additional flights. We have secured additional flights coming out of Spain to Jamaica, more than we ever had before.
"Europe will now put in a relatively stable performance with emphasis to be placed on Germany where we have a stong brand recognition. We will be working with their sports organisations with a view to having a strong presence at the World Championships in August of this year. The arrangements put in place with Tui, Thomas Cook and others will put us in good stead in Europe. The UK continues to be the bread basket market of Europe with visitors coming in from the Diaspora. So far this year visitors from the UK have been flat, but we expect it to pick up later in the year."
South America
South America represents an emerging market for Jamaica. Stopover arrivals from the Latin American market decreased by 4.6 per cent with 1,334 arrivals in January. In May of this year, Bartlett goes to Brazil with a delegation to drum up business there. He hopes to have talks with Lan Airlines and other Latin American carriers to form partnerships in an effort to stimulate more visitor arrivals from that region. Jamaica already has air service agreements with Brazil but those agreements do need to be reconstituted. Bartlett sees great opportunities from both Mexico and Cuba, and the aim is to pursue a multi-destination marketing strategy.
Will Cuba hurt Jamaica?
It has been said that if Cuba were to open up any time soon, it will hurt Jamaica, bearing in mind it has a more disciplined and educated workforce and less crime, not to mention the curiosity factor.
"Frankly, we have no fear of Cuba," said Bartlett. "Brand Jamaica is very strong and we have good products. It will take Cuba a little time to catch up with Jamaica and with the strategies we are now employing, we will be more complementing each other rather than viewing each other with adversarial eyes. Multi-destinational marketing has much value for us, particularly in Europe, and remember, Cuba does get a lot of traffic out of Eastern Europe."
Higher volumes, lower yields
Bartlett believes that higher volumes can offset the negative impact of lower yields. It also has a role to play in preserving tourism jobs.
"The tourism industry has to be the lynchpin during these difficult times. Tourism is connected to many other industries that feed into tourism. That is why it is important that the industry remains buoyant and strong, and the arrivals are a key element in ensuring those linkages stay intact. Manufacturers have to produce for the industry, local agriculture has to play its part in feeding the guests, the service sector, financial services, transport industry - there are about 23 industries and services that feed directly into tourism. The 'D&Gs' and 'Wisyncos' have a large part of their businesses in the tourism sector."
Tourism as the key economic driver
The way Bartlett sees it, local businesses not only service a population of 2.6 million people but another three million visitors a year to the country, thus giving them an expanded market.
"The fallout from exports can be picked up by the tourism industry. The salvation for Jamaica in these difficult times is tourism. Why? Because bauxite is falling, so too are remittances, so you have to drive that one industry that earns foreign exchange, gives you convertibility and creates employment," he said.
Many analysts and government agencies like the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) are forecasting a falloff in tourism and do not share Bartlett's rosy optimism. Some even say that it goes against the grain with the country's leading hoteliers discounting heavily.
The minister counters: "These people you speak of are not able to measure properly the impact of the industry on the wider economy. They are measuring manufacturing by itself and saying the output for manufacturing is just for manufacturing when it is heavily influenced by the input from tourism. The same goes for the agricultural sector. The largest customers for the JPS must be the hotels. Tourism is measured in terms of the rooms and the GCT one pays on those rooms. That's far from it. You ask GraceKennedy about the size of the cheque that comes for its services to tourism, but Grace is measured in terms of what comes in from the distribution trade.
"The UNWTO has agreed to underwrite the cost of completing our TSA in Jamaica. That will give us the tools we need to properly measure the impact and effect of the industry on the wider economy. This will give us a chance to establish tourism as a key component of the national accounts."
var addthis_pub="jamaicaobserver";
By Al Edwards
Friday, March 27, 2009
The minister of tourism, Edmund Bartlett, is declaring that this year's winter tourism season is the best Jamaica has ever had despite the global financial crisis which is having a negative impact on many destinations.
Edmund Bartlett Speaking with Caribbean Business Report from his office in New Kingston, Bartlett said: "The tourism market internationally is in a very unstable situation at the moment with practically every destination showing a downturn. I have just returned from Berlin where we had the UNWTO Residents' Committee Meeting. Now that committee really deals with stimulus for the industry and posits ways of overcoming the difficulties in the market and provides a road map for the way forward through these turbulent times. Signifcantly, Jamaica was cited as one of the four countries in the world that is bucking the trend.
"We are certainly the only country in this region that is showing growth. The winter season is halfway through and from December 15th to March 14th, preliminary data show that we have welcomed 464,589 visitors in that period. Last year at this same period we had 453,000 visitors. That is a significant performance against the background of the projections that our tourism numbers would be 30 to 40 per cent down with reasonble justification at the time, given the fact that forward bookings were weak. However, we in the industry that manage the macro perspective knew what was going on because of the kind of level of marketing we were doing and our advertising efforts on the key markets that would respond to Jamaica."
Jamaica gets most of its visitors from the United States, but with that country now experiencing a major economic downturn it comes as no surprise that visitors from the United States are down 4.3 per cent with 83,813 arrivals.
Despite this, Bartlett sees this as a great performance and a testament to the Ministry of Tourism's efforts. While visitors from its traditionally biggest market have dropped off, visitors from Canada have serged by as much as 37 per cent in January of this year. Figures for February are not yet in, but the arrivals from Canada have continued pretty much apace.
Europe has also been flat with a total of 21,594 stopover arrivals, a decrease of 5.8 per cent when compared to the same period in 2008. Visitors from the UK were down 5.7 per cent with 13,382 arrivals. Germany is proving a growth area for Jamaica with that country's economy remaining remarkably resilient. Here arrivals were 2,035, an increase of 1.7 per cent.
"The Caribbean is a very interesting market which is registering significant growth. It is showing an increase of 3.5 per cent in January with arrivals of 4,746. Last year, the Caribbean grew by eight per cent for the full year. We will be focusing more on this market as we seek to diversify even more to get the increment from the marketplaces to make up for the downturn in the United States," said Bartlett.
Spring Break has been good to Jamaica
Jamaica has benefitted from the Spring Breakers staying away from Mexico largely due to high incidence of criminal activity in that country. How does Bartlett view this boon to the country?
"The Spring Breakers are a March phenomenon," said Bartlett. "We showed growth in January, we also showed growth in February and now in March, to date, we are up 12.2 per cent. This figure can be attributed in part to Spring Break.
"The importance of a good winter in this difficult time is a security for the rest of the year. This winter performance guarantees us the best winter season Jamaica has ever had. It should be noted that this performance took place against the backdrop of a global depression. The numbers for April should be good when one factors in the Easter period. I must say here that bookings look reasonably good so far for the summer, although they are booking a bit later than usual."
Better Airlift
A problem facing many Caribbean destinations is airlift, but Bartlett said that this is a problem that Jamaica does not face. Last year he brokered a deal with American Airlines to take up the slack left behind by national carrier Air Jamaica's decision to cut a number of routes.
"We have done tremendous work with airlift," he said. "The team with John Lynch and Lionel Reid have travelled and met with everybody and we have secured for this summer adequate airlift. We are much better off now out of Europe, particularly in Italy where we have secured additional flights. We have secured additional flights coming out of Spain to Jamaica, more than we ever had before.
"Europe will now put in a relatively stable performance with emphasis to be placed on Germany where we have a stong brand recognition. We will be working with their sports organisations with a view to having a strong presence at the World Championships in August of this year. The arrangements put in place with Tui, Thomas Cook and others will put us in good stead in Europe. The UK continues to be the bread basket market of Europe with visitors coming in from the Diaspora. So far this year visitors from the UK have been flat, but we expect it to pick up later in the year."
South America
South America represents an emerging market for Jamaica. Stopover arrivals from the Latin American market decreased by 4.6 per cent with 1,334 arrivals in January. In May of this year, Bartlett goes to Brazil with a delegation to drum up business there. He hopes to have talks with Lan Airlines and other Latin American carriers to form partnerships in an effort to stimulate more visitor arrivals from that region. Jamaica already has air service agreements with Brazil but those agreements do need to be reconstituted. Bartlett sees great opportunities from both Mexico and Cuba, and the aim is to pursue a multi-destination marketing strategy.
Will Cuba hurt Jamaica?
It has been said that if Cuba were to open up any time soon, it will hurt Jamaica, bearing in mind it has a more disciplined and educated workforce and less crime, not to mention the curiosity factor.
"Frankly, we have no fear of Cuba," said Bartlett. "Brand Jamaica is very strong and we have good products. It will take Cuba a little time to catch up with Jamaica and with the strategies we are now employing, we will be more complementing each other rather than viewing each other with adversarial eyes. Multi-destinational marketing has much value for us, particularly in Europe, and remember, Cuba does get a lot of traffic out of Eastern Europe."
Higher volumes, lower yields
Bartlett believes that higher volumes can offset the negative impact of lower yields. It also has a role to play in preserving tourism jobs.
"The tourism industry has to be the lynchpin during these difficult times. Tourism is connected to many other industries that feed into tourism. That is why it is important that the industry remains buoyant and strong, and the arrivals are a key element in ensuring those linkages stay intact. Manufacturers have to produce for the industry, local agriculture has to play its part in feeding the guests, the service sector, financial services, transport industry - there are about 23 industries and services that feed directly into tourism. The 'D&Gs' and 'Wisyncos' have a large part of their businesses in the tourism sector."
Tourism as the key economic driver
The way Bartlett sees it, local businesses not only service a population of 2.6 million people but another three million visitors a year to the country, thus giving them an expanded market.
"The fallout from exports can be picked up by the tourism industry. The salvation for Jamaica in these difficult times is tourism. Why? Because bauxite is falling, so too are remittances, so you have to drive that one industry that earns foreign exchange, gives you convertibility and creates employment," he said.
Many analysts and government agencies like the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) are forecasting a falloff in tourism and do not share Bartlett's rosy optimism. Some even say that it goes against the grain with the country's leading hoteliers discounting heavily.
The minister counters: "These people you speak of are not able to measure properly the impact of the industry on the wider economy. They are measuring manufacturing by itself and saying the output for manufacturing is just for manufacturing when it is heavily influenced by the input from tourism. The same goes for the agricultural sector. The largest customers for the JPS must be the hotels. Tourism is measured in terms of the rooms and the GCT one pays on those rooms. That's far from it. You ask GraceKennedy about the size of the cheque that comes for its services to tourism, but Grace is measured in terms of what comes in from the distribution trade.
"The UNWTO has agreed to underwrite the cost of completing our TSA in Jamaica. That will give us the tools we need to properly measure the impact and effect of the industry on the wider economy. This will give us a chance to establish tourism as a key component of the national accounts."
var addthis_pub="jamaicaobserver";
Edmund Bartlett, Minister of Tourism, Jamaica“Canada is the fastest-growing major destination for Jamaica,” declared the Hon. Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s minister of tourism at a packed gathering of industry representatives in Vancouver on October 16. 
At Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, the first two phases of a three-phase expansion are underway, while Sangster Airport in Montego Bay has completed the first two of its planned expansion. Phase three is now in progress. 
New this year are the Rainforest Bobsled Jamaica at Mystic Mountain, Outameni, Jamspeed Rally Experience and JAM-X Tours at Paradise Park.
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