Tweet
Jamaica's tourism arrivals show growth, but earnings down
Sunday, July 19, 2009
In the midst of a worldwide recession, Jamaica's tourism grew by 3.3 per cent for the January to mid-July period over the same period last year.
According to the Ministry of Tourism, the island welcomed 1,049,000 visitors, up from 1,016,000. Earnings for the period, meanwhile, saw a drop of $70 million, from US$1.7 billion in 2008, to US$1.1 billion.
This information was shared by Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett with participants of the Caribbean Business Renewal Conference organised by the Mona School of Business, held on Friday. The conference was organised with the theme, "Providing Strategic and Sustainable Solutions for Public and Private Sector Organisations". It was attended by business leaders and government administrators, and focused on strategic management trends in organisations.
"While international tourism is not immune to the global economic crunch, it has performed better than other sectors such as construction, real estate and the financial markets," Bartlett said.
He pointed to the need for companies operating in the tourism sector to concentrate on containment of cost, product renewal, innovative approaches to marketing, and continuous investment in human resource development, in order to keep their competitive edge.
"The industry must routinely review market trends and develop cutting-edge market intelligence," the minister added. "Increasingly the product must be new and improved. The 'same old same old' will not make the grade. One of the main weaknesses of tourism in the Caribbean is that, in the main, we have not renewed our product. Jamaica, Cuba, Cancun and the Dominican Republic are the exceptions. As a result, these destinations are showing moderate downturn, and even growth."
Sunday, July 19, 2009
In the midst of a worldwide recession, Jamaica's tourism grew by 3.3 per cent for the January to mid-July period over the same period last year.
According to the Ministry of Tourism, the island welcomed 1,049,000 visitors, up from 1,016,000. Earnings for the period, meanwhile, saw a drop of $70 million, from US$1.7 billion in 2008, to US$1.1 billion.
This information was shared by Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett with participants of the Caribbean Business Renewal Conference organised by the Mona School of Business, held on Friday. The conference was organised with the theme, "Providing Strategic and Sustainable Solutions for Public and Private Sector Organisations". It was attended by business leaders and government administrators, and focused on strategic management trends in organisations.
"While international tourism is not immune to the global economic crunch, it has performed better than other sectors such as construction, real estate and the financial markets," Bartlett said.
He pointed to the need for companies operating in the tourism sector to concentrate on containment of cost, product renewal, innovative approaches to marketing, and continuous investment in human resource development, in order to keep their competitive edge.
"The industry must routinely review market trends and develop cutting-edge market intelligence," the minister added. "Increasingly the product must be new and improved. The 'same old same old' will not make the grade. One of the main weaknesses of tourism in the Caribbean is that, in the main, we have not renewed our product. Jamaica, Cuba, Cancun and the Dominican Republic are the exceptions. As a result, these destinations are showing moderate downturn, and even growth."
Comment