Neglected, yet fascinating attractions

[Assasin]

Neglected, yet fascinating attractions

Published: Sunday | July 19, 2009



Mark Kerr-Jarrett, Contributor
I would like to encourage fellow Jamaicans with a very pleasant experience I had on the weekend of July 11 and 12 with my family and some friends from Spain. We had the opportunity to spend the weekend at the Bahia Principe Hotel in Runaway Bay and I would recommend it to any one especially those with children. It is a very comfortable and well-appointed facility starting with the lobby all the way to the beach.
After spending two relaxing days at the hotel we decided that on our way home to Montego Bay we would make a few stops, first at the Green Grotto where I have never been before, ever. This was a fascinating experience for my entire family and friends. The caves are astonishing and our tour guide, 'Prichard', was marvellous; a veritable encyclopaedia of information regarding the caves, geology, history, culture and humour. We will always remember to keep our mouths closed when looking up at the bats clustered on the [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]roof[/COLOR][/COLOR] of the caves. The lagoon was pristine. The entire experience was fabulous for all and one of my children who had visited the Grotto two years previously remarked that he found it even more interesting this time.
However, the external infrastructure, where visitors' first impression is created, needs much upgrading and maintenance. For example, the waiting area is far too small and I would dread to think what it is like if one 40-seater tour bus arrives let alone two or three, as might be the case on a cruise ship day. The gift shop is tiny and is more of a snack counter. I cannot imagine how much money could be made with some pertinent creative souvenirs relevant to the caves, i.e. rat bats on bouncy strings, tiny souvenir phials of lagoon [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]water[/COLOR][/COLOR], a large assortment of post cards, a book(let) on the geology of the caves, the list goes on, but do, I pray leave the wood carvings out of it, make the souvenirs feature specific. We could even incorporate James Bond memorabilia from the filming of Live and Let Die which was done on location; sell copies of the film on DVD, have a mannequin of Roger Moore and the leading actress you can take photos with like at Madame Tussaud's, the list goes on. My goodness, we must be brain dead!
Furthermore, in proximity to the Caves is a lovely lake with a virtually completed wood [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]deck[/COLOR][/COLOR] that would be ideal for a snack/lunch spot, but to my knowledge this has been shelved. A perfectly good revenue centre abandoned, could I suggest that the Urban Development Corporation go into partnership with the jerk centre directly across the highway and leases it to them to operate on a concession basis. There is so much that could be done to expand the experience and revenue enhancement for such a unique and worthwhile attraction.
Exquisite experience
But let me continue. After leaving the Green Grotto, we went at our leisure and arrived at the Falmouth Lagoon in time to eat dinner first at one of the two establishments having scheduled an evening outing on the Luminous Lagoon for 8 p.m. It was a perfectly dark night as the moon would not come up until about 9. The experience was exquisite, the phosphorescence was remarkable. The last time I was here was some 30 years ago and it was far more spectacular than now. Two of our friends decided to swim in the lagoon, words cannot describe the magnificent reaction to their entry into the water and movements; I felt like a child again in awe of this remarkable phenomenon. The fish were jumping leaving sparkles on the surface and propeller of the boat left a glowing trail for 20 feet or more and in the distance one could also see the glow from the bow and stern of the other boat on the lagoon, it was almost eerie to behold. All of this was supplemented by the enthusiastic dialogue, instruction and participation from our boat Captain, 'Moonie', who confirmed that what we were witnessing was said to be the best in the world, which confirms what I have heard before.
Here again is another example of a world-class attraction, which, if properly developed, could be a first-class experience, revenue centre and [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]marketing [COLOR=orange !important]tool[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] for our nation. Both Fisherman's Inn and Glistening Waters need major upgrading as they are the first impression to this remarkable experience and, with all due respect to the owners/operators of those facilities; they do not do any justice to what nature has blessed us with in that lagoon, and they actually could deter persons pursuing engagement. The service was cordial, but extremely slow and the food could do with some attention.
Can you imagine if we allowed persons to [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]kayak[/COLOR][/COLOR], with the phosphorescence dipping from the paddles creating an array of sparkles on the waters surface and pedal boat on the lagoon coupled with a water wheel in action for controlled periods during the evening? And the highlight of the experience being a night-time waterskiing performance on selected evenings during the week. I believe that it would become of such great demand that we would have to control the numbers attending in order that we preserve the phenomenon and thereby being able to charge a premium for the privilege of witnessing nature's fireworks. From this a raft of souvenir items could be birthed preserving the experience for the visitor and creating a valued revenue stream which is vital for the maintenance of this environment.
A fund must be established immediately to aid the upgrading of these two natural attractions and their support facilities and the Ministry of Tourism, Tourism Enhancement Fund and Association of Jamaica Attractions Limited must take an aggressive posture in this.
It was only months ago that I heard the Government lamenting on the shortage of quality attractions. Well, here are two, both eco/educational in nature, one of which they even owns itself. We have been blessed with these natural resources and no doubt many more, which with a little creativity and funding could drastically improve Jamaica's lure and revenue potential. In a time when people are looking for a unique reason on where to go on vacation, not just sand and sea, we have an opportunity to deliver to them that option, yet they sit there under our noses yearning to be responsibly utilised.
It is time for the leaders to lead, saddle up Jamaica because we have been blessed with all the assets we need to succeed, we just need to identify, develop and steward them responsibly. Some thoughts on agriculture to come. Mark N. Kerr-Jarrett, is managing director of Barnett Limited, Montego Bay. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.

[Assasin]

Don1 another man buy into the Barlett formula

Tourism enthusiasm and resilience

Published: Sunday | July 19, 2009



Andrew Spencer, Contributor
In a previous article I pointed to the fact that there was very little understanding or enthusiasm surrounding tourism despite its substantial contribution to Jamaica's economy. While there may be widespread apathy from the masses of Jamaicans who do not necessarily experience direct benefits from tourism, there is clearly an unbridled passion within the Ministry of Tourism, which has not waned in the last 22 months.
No doubt, this enthusiasm has filtered through that organisation from the very top. Our current minister has certainly been the most passionate public servant to take on the tourism mantle in the last decade and while many, including me have been sceptical of this optimism, the results certainly speak for themselves.
International tourism has many times been referred to as a fragile and vulnerable industry; one that is susceptible, even more than others to endogenous and exogenous factors. This is primarily a function of two factors. The first is that there needs to be perceived low risk in order for individuals to take a trip especially outside of some geographical parameters. The other is that tourism is, in economic terms, a luxury good which means that once disposable income in major generating countries such as the United States becomes challenged, then consumers tend to focus their spending primarily on necessities. In times of a global recession it is therefore expected that tourism dependent countries in particular, will be most severely affected. The experience, however, has been that tourism although fragile, has always rebounded with remarkable speed. Only a year after the devastating September 11 attacks in New York City, we saw international travel volume return to normality. Indeed, a prolonged crisis such as the global meltdown is quite different and it takes remarkable drive to stay afloat for such a protracted period. Minister [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]Edmund[/COLOR][/COLOR] Bartlett when presenting plans to move the tourism sector forward in the 2008 sectoral debate, seemed to be in overdrive and some of us were saying "slow down minister!" I must concede, however, that it is the exuberance at that time when the industry worldwide was looking [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]healthy[/COLOR][/COLOR]

that is now helping us to ride the tide and make a relatively good showing in these trying times. It was encouraging to hear the minister a year later in the recent 2009 sectoral presentation highlighting how well Jamaica has performed comparative to counterparts in the Caribbean and International [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]environment[/COLOR][/COLOR].
The United Nations World Tourism Organisation confirms a rapid slowdown of international tourism growth since mid-2008 and expects the performance in 2009 to be even more modest. This they expect will be as a result of the economic downturn, current uncertainties, extreme market volatility and low consumer and [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]business[/COLOR][/COLOR] confidence. The atmosphere in the Caribbean is even more striking since the region has been dubbed as the most tourism dependent in the world with a contribution of 14.8 per cent to Caribbean total [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]GDP[/COLOR][/COLOR] and 12.9 per cent to total employment. Stopover arrivals over the last year have shown a growth of less than one per cent from the US market and a decrease of less than one per cent from the European market. The only significant growth market to the region was Canada at 13.8 per cent.
While a preoccupation with the quantity associated with mass tourism carries its own baggage, we must be aware that given the product that we now offer, a critical mass is essential to its success. Against the backdrop of global industry performance Jamaica has fared well with the key growth areas being the United States and Canada. As presented by the minister, an overview of visitor arrivals to Jamaica reveals the following:
Total stopover arrivals increased by 3.9 per cent, from 1.7 million in 2007 to 1.8 million in 2008.
North America - The stopover arrivals from the US market increased by 1.6 per cent, with a total of 1.150 million visitors compared to the 1.132 million in 2007. Stopover arrivals from Canada recorded a 23.9 per cent growth with a total of 236,193, in contrast to the 2007 arrivals of 190,650.
UK/Europe - The stopover arrivals from the United Kingdom/European region declined by 1.5 per cent during 2008 moving from 288,894 in 2007 to 284,700 arrivals in 2008. The UK, with 188,436 increased by 1.5 per cent over 165,057 in 2007.
The Caribbean and Latin America - The Caribbean region recorded a 6.8 per cent growth with 67,231 stopover arrivals and Latin America had a 32.5 per cent growth with 16,122.
Asia and the Pacific recorded 6,003 visitors, a 14.8 per cent decline.
Cruise Arrivals - While cruise arrivals to the Caribbean declined by 17 per cent, Jamaica's declined by 7.4 per cent.
The average room occupancy in Jamaica was 60.4 per cent, down from 63 per cent in 2007.
The number of available rooms in the accommodation subsector increased by 9.3 per cent, from 28,000 in 2007 to over 30,000 in 2008.
While the above is worthy of note I am more interested in how we measure up to the rest of the world qualitatively. Jamaica copped a number of awards for 2008 with the most notable being those at the prestigious World Travel Awards. These included 'Leading Caribbean Destination' and 'Leading Caribbean Cruise Destination'. TripAdvisor also ranked Jamaica in the Top Ten Dream Escapes at No. 7 ahead of Rome and The Bahamas. All of these speak to the broader issue of image and the potential to market the destination in a meaningful way as we attempt to secure our future.
Congrats minister
I must offer congratulations to the minister and in the same breath I must say, let us not lose steam as we forge ahead. You have silenced the naysayers this round. It will be interesting to see how 2009 unfolds as many feel that we have not yet felt the worst. Everything that could go wrong appears to be going wrong at the same time. In the midst of the economic downturn we must contend with the H1N1 virus and the new Airline Passenger Duty (APD). Both of these have a direct impact on Jamaica as most of the reported cases of the virus have been traced to New York, a major generating state for travellers to the island, while the APD affects travellers from the UK which accounts for 10.9 per cent of tourism traffic to the island.
Despite the challenges, I get a sense that there is vision as we speak of the "new tourism" which has at its centre, inclusiveness and partnership. Let us be sure, however, that the benefits of such a partnership are felt by all stakeholders. The resilience of tourism in Jamaica can be partly attributed to the enthusiasm of our chief salesman.
I think of utmost importance, however, is that while we increase the number of arrivals to our shores, we must create initiatives that will encourage visitors to spend more while we foster backward and forward linkages so that money stays in the economy. While the numbers indicate that tourism in Jamaica thrives even during the hard times, this must be converted to the increased livelihood and standard of living of the people who live in the 'Leading Caribbean Destination'. Andrew Spencer is lecturer in tourism management, Department of Management Studies, UWI, Mona. Feedback may be sent to andrew.spencer@uwimona.edu.jm.

[HL]

Never spend time reading long posts--but i read both your post Assasin.

Of all the ministries, tourism appears to be one making the greatest impact in Jamaica. Minister Bartlett efforts must be applauded!

When i was about 10 years old, my class teacher took us on a class trip to Petersfield in Westmoreland. We visited the water purification plant, saw the origin of an underground spring and visited a cave nearby. i was gobsmacked by the cave!!

Years later-- in the late 90's i decided to revisit Petersfield and the cave.

It appears that the government had invested money in making the location "tourist friendly".

This cave could easily be a cash cow for the entire community.

The similar supporting features and ideas (as outlined in your first submission) were lacking at the cave. The major problem is was that it was community that run the spot--and management was extremely poor.

Places like these need to be taken over by private enterprise to make them succesful.

[HL]

Visited the Luminous Lagoon some time in the early 2000's.

Quite a fascinating place that could be even more developed.

I would add to Mark Kerr-Jarrett observations: that the excursion boats should be equipped with life jackets.

[Assasin]

There is a few comments I have to make. I know Mr Jarrett is a big businessman in Mobay and it surprise me he is just knowing the beauty of Green Grotto Cave. I have been there on a school trip as a kid and later when I was in training in Runaway Bay. I have also been to None Such caves in Portland back in the day and I am blown away by Green Grotto. At the botton sits a little stream and a boat and going down is amazing.

Attraction like this maybe needs to be coupled with something else with a good business plan. People may not want to go to a "cave" but if you get them on spot and they see they will enjoy it.

There are a lot of attractions in Ja that is been run down and disappearing and there must be concerted effort to get them going.

There is just too many beauty spots which are just left to themselves or community strongmen.

As I said a concerted effort must be made to teach tourism as many in Ja don't realise what we have right under our noses.

[Historian]

Tell This to the Freakin' Travel Channel

But let me continue. After leaving the Green Grotto, we went at our leisure and arrived at the Falmouth Lagoon in time to eat dinner first at one of the two establishments having scheduled an evening outing on the Luminous Lagoon for 8 p.m. It was a perfectly dark night as the moon would not come up until about 9. The experience was exquisite, the phosphorescence was remarkable. The last time I was here was some 30 years ago and it was far more spectacular than now. Two of our friends decided to swim in the lagoon, words cannot describe the magnificent reaction to their entry into the water and movements; I felt like a child again in awe of this remarkable phenomenon. The fish were jumping leaving sparkles on the surface and propeller of the boat left a glowing trail for 20 feet or more and in the distance one could also see the glow from the bow and stern of the other boat on the lagoon, it was almost eerie to behold.

Somebody needs to tell these facts to the freakin’ Travel Channel and its producers! Showing one hour of Jamaica on the Travel Channel and, in that hour, showing nothing but Coronation Market, Blue Mountain coffee workers, a guy selling jerk chicken and jerk pork on the side of a Kingston Street, then wasting one fourth of the damn program showing the show host on a long, muddy trek into a bat-infested, rodent laden cave is certainly not my idea of promoting Jamaica!

[Gamma]

hmmmmm.....

[Karl]

There is a few comments I have to make. I know Mr Jarrett is a big businessman in Mobay and it surprise me he is just knowing the beauty of Green Grotto Cave. I have been there on a school trip as a kid and later when I was in training in Runaway Bay. I have also been to None Such caves in Portland back in the day and I am blown away by Green Grotto. At the botton sits a little stream and a boat and going down is amazing.

At the bottom a little stream?

I remember a large underground lake!
...and it must have been about 8 years past that the family visited!

[Islandman]

Historian, if you are talking about the "No Reservations" program with Anthony Bourdain, I was also very disapointed with the Jamaica episode of the show.

I don't understand how they did such a poor job of it because that is one of the few Travel Channel programs that I like to watch, they have had some great "off-the-beaten-tourist-path" shows in places like Columbia, Laos, The Azores etc so I was looking forward to the inevitable Jamaica episode to see where he would end up. The Cockpit Country? Faiths Pen? Accompong maybe? Nope, a dark cave in the middle of nowhere (where the hell was that anyway) and a meal cooked by Muta. Truly disapointing.

[Jangle]

The JTB only thinks of the big attractions and hotels when it comes to tourism in Jamaica. I have never been to the Green Grotto Caves, but I have heard of it. The Jamaican concept of tourism and tourist attractions need to change. Since I have been living here in the USA, my family and I have visited many places which would not be considered attractions in Jamaica. Two such places are Boston and Mystic in Connecticut. One Fall, we just decided to drive up to Boston for the weekend. It was a pleasant and relaxing weekend. The highlight being in a different city, eating at a nice restaurant and riding across the harbour in a Duckboat. In Mystic, we went to the Aquatic Museum which was fun.

[Mosiah]

There are a lot of attractions in Ja that is been run down and disappearing and there must be concerted effort to get them going.

There is just too many beauty spots which are just left to themselves or community strongmen.

And yet the Minister is doing a good job?!?!

[Don1]

Don1 another man buy into the Barlett formula

Tourism enthusiasm and resilience

Published: Sunday | July 19, 2009



Andrew Spencer, Contributor
In a previous article I pointed to the fact that there was very little understanding or enthusiasm surrounding tourism despite its substantial contribution to Jamaica's economy. While there may be widespread apathy from the masses of Jamaicans who do not necessarily experience direct benefits from tourism, there is clearly an unbridled passion within the Ministry of Tourism, which has not waned in the last 22 months.
No doubt, this enthusiasm has filtered through that organisation from the very top. Our current minister has certainly been the most passionate public servant to take on the tourism mantle in the last decade and while many, including me have been sceptical of this optimism, the results certainly speak for themselves.
International tourism has many times been referred to as a fragile and vulnerable industry; one that is susceptible, even more than others to endogenous and exogenous factors. This is primarily a function of two factors. The first is that there needs to be perceived low risk in order for individuals to take a trip especially outside of some geographical parameters. The other is that tourism is, in economic terms, a luxury good which means that once disposable income in major generating countries such as the United States becomes challenged, then consumers tend to focus their spending primarily on necessities. In times of a global recession it is therefore expected that tourism dependent countries in particular, will be most severely affected. The experience, however, has been that tourism although fragile, has always rebounded with remarkable speed. Only a year after the devastating September 11 attacks in New York City, we saw international travel volume return to normality. Indeed, a prolonged crisis such as the global meltdown is quite different and it takes remarkable drive to stay afloat for such a protracted period. Minister [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]Edmund[/color][/color] Bartlett when presenting plans to move the tourism sector forward in the 2008 sectoral debate, seemed to be in overdrive and some of us were saying "slow down minister!" I must concede, however, that it is the exuberance at that time when the industry worldwide was looking [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]healthy[/color][/color]

that is now helping us to ride the tide and make a relatively good showing in these trying times. It was encouraging to hear the minister a year later in the recent 2009 sectoral presentation highlighting how well Jamaica has performed comparative to counterparts in the Caribbean and International [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]environment[/color][/color].
The United Nations World Tourism Organisation confirms a rapid slowdown of international tourism growth since mid-2008 and expects the performance in 2009 to be even more modest. This they expect will be as a result of the economic downturn, current uncertainties, extreme market volatility and low consumer and [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]business[/color][/color] confidence. The atmosphere in the Caribbean is even more striking since the region has been dubbed as the most tourism dependent in the world with a contribution of 14.8 per cent to Caribbean total [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]GDP[/color][/color] and 12.9 per cent to total employment. Stopover arrivals over the last year have shown a growth of less than one per cent from the US market and a decrease of less than one per cent from the European market. The only significant growth market to the region was Canada at 13.8 per cent.
While a preoccupation with the quantity associated with mass tourism carries its own baggage, we must be aware that given the product that we now offer, a critical mass is essential to its success. Against the backdrop of global industry performance Jamaica has fared well with the key growth areas being the United States and Canada. As presented by the minister, an overview of visitor arrivals to Jamaica reveals the following:
Total stopover arrivals increased by 3.9 per cent, from 1.7 million in 2007 to 1.8 million in 2008.
North America - The stopover arrivals from the US market increased by 1.6 per cent, with a total of 1.150 million visitors compared to the 1.132 million in 2007. Stopover arrivals from Canada recorded a 23.9 per cent growth with a total of 236,193, in contrast to the 2007 arrivals of 190,650.
UK/Europe - The stopover arrivals from the United Kingdom/European region declined by 1.5 per cent during 2008 moving from 288,894 in 2007 to 284,700 arrivals in 2008. The UK, with 188,436 increased by 1.5 per cent over 165,057 in 2007.
The Caribbean and Latin America - The Caribbean region recorded a 6.8 per cent growth with 67,231 stopover arrivals and Latin America had a 32.5 per cent growth with 16,122.
Asia and the Pacific recorded 6,003 visitors, a 14.8 per cent decline.
Cruise Arrivals - While cruise arrivals to the Caribbean declined by 17 per cent, Jamaica's declined by 7.4 per cent.
The average room occupancy in Jamaica was 60.4 per cent, down from 63 per cent in 2007.
The number of available rooms in the accommodation subsector increased by 9.3 per cent, from 28,000 in 2007 to over 30,000 in 2008.
While the above is worthy of note I am more interested in how we measure up to the rest of the world qualitatively. Jamaica copped a number of awards for 2008 with the most notable being those at the prestigious World Travel Awards. These included 'Leading Caribbean Destination' and 'Leading Caribbean Cruise Destination'. TripAdvisor also ranked Jamaica in the Top Ten Dream Escapes at No. 7 ahead of Rome and The Bahamas. All of these speak to the broader issue of image and the potential to market the destination in a meaningful way as we attempt to secure our future.
Congrats minister
I must offer congratulations to the minister and in the same breath I must say, let us not lose steam as we forge ahead. You have silenced the naysayers this round. It will be interesting to see how 2009 unfolds as many feel that we have not yet felt the worst. Everything that could go wrong appears to be going wrong at the same time. In the midst of the economic downturn we must contend with the H1N1 virus and the new Airline Passenger Duty (APD). Both of these have a direct impact on Jamaica as most of the reported cases of the virus have been traced to New York, a major generating state for travellers to the island, while the APD affects travellers from the UK which accounts for 10.9 per cent of tourism traffic to the island.
Despite the challenges, I get a sense that there is vision as we speak of the "new tourism" which has at its centre, inclusiveness and partnership. Let us be sure, however, that the benefits of such a partnership are felt by all stakeholders. The resilience of tourism in Jamaica can be partly attributed to the enthusiasm of our chief salesman.
I think of utmost importance, however, is that while we increase the number of arrivals to our shores, we must create initiatives that will encourage visitors to spend more while we foster backward and forward linkages so that money stays in the economy. While the numbers indicate that tourism in Jamaica thrives even during the hard times, this must be converted to the increased livelihood and standard of living of the people who live in the 'Leading Caribbean Destination'. Andrew Spencer is lecturer in tourism management, Department of Management Studies, UWI, Mona. Feedback may be sent to andrew.spencer@uwimona.edu.jm.

That makes at least 2 of you!!!!

Happy Days are here again!!

dat deh writa sound lakka im waan one job fram Bartlett.

[Assasin]

Mosiah give the man a break. You think he can do everything? Comparatively to any other toursim minister since the 1970 Barlett is miles ahead.

None a you can't compare but unnu can talk. Do me one thing and twll me which minister is even close to Barlett.

[Mosiah]

I was waiting for this - the inevitable comparison. Thanks for being predictable, Sass!

Fact is, we haven't had a good minister of tourism for years! I will explain why later in another post. And no, I will not give him break. The country is in too much problems for me to give the minister a break!

[Peter R]

Just passed through Faith's Pen..talk about "ambush marketing" and super high prices ... IMO i' nuh wut i'. Having said that were I alone and not with my family the experience would have been different but as we stepped out the car about two man each pounce on each member of my family and start to push all kin a supen in dem han... and fi di man dem fi back off yuh almos haffi start cuss bad wud...definitely a turn off experience! food good tho' but way over priced. Easily, by far my worst experience during the holiday...thank God it was the first day...everything after that very nice.