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Stop yapping! - Butch to Minister of Tourism
Give attention to operations side of hotel sector, Stewart tells Gov't
BY INGRID BROWN Senior staff reporter browni@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, May 13, 2010
HOTEL mogul Gordon 'Butch' Stewart yesterday chided the Government for not placing enough emphasis on the operations side of the hotel sector and urged Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett to spend less time talking and more time getting to understand that vital side of the sector.
"My word of advice to Bartlett is to stop yapping and start fixing the operations side, which is making us less able to develop the quality tourism product we have and the competitiveness that we need," Stewart said.
STEWART... my word of advice is to stop yapping and start fixing the operations side
According to Stewart, who is chairman of the Sandals chain of all-inclusive resorts which operates properties across the Caribbean, Jamaica has never had a government that truly understood tourism and appreciated that the industry is an export and, as such, should be treated likewise. Instead, tourism has been constantly treated as a milch cow by successive governments, he said.
The hotelier, who spoke with the Observer -- of which he is also chairman -- during yesterday's three-day Jamaica Product Exchange tourism trade show at the Half Moon Shopping Village in Montego Bay, said of all the countries in which the Sandals resorts are located, Jamaica is by far the most difficult in which to operate as bureaucracy strangles and suffocates businesses.
"Every island we operate in, all put together, we find it much easier to deal with than Jamaica," he maintained, pointing out that this was due to policies that, because they are not properly defined, impact the cost of doing business.
He, however, commended tourism officials, particularly Jamaica Tourist Board Chairman John Lynch, for being diligent and using his vast experience to acquire comprehensive airlift at a time when Air Jamaica cannot be relied on for leisure traffic.
However, Stewart maintained that the success of the industry has been significantly due to the input of the hotel sector.
"If he (Bartlett) wants to be successful and deal with the substance of the operation side he must understand the product and its competitive needs," Stewart said, adding that greater emphasis needed to be placed on training and development of the sector's workers.
Citing an example, Stewart said a properly trained waiter acquires a profession for his entire life.
"I see some of my waiters working in New York, Boston, Germany and they live good quality lives because that profession is no different from that of a lawyer or doctor," he said.
BY INGRID BROWN Senior staff reporter browni@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, May 13, 2010
HOTEL mogul Gordon 'Butch' Stewart yesterday chided the Government for not placing enough emphasis on the operations side of the hotel sector and urged Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett to spend less time talking and more time getting to understand that vital side of the sector.
"My word of advice to Bartlett is to stop yapping and start fixing the operations side, which is making us less able to develop the quality tourism product we have and the competitiveness that we need," Stewart said.
STEWART... my word of advice is to stop yapping and start fixing the operations side
According to Stewart, who is chairman of the Sandals chain of all-inclusive resorts which operates properties across the Caribbean, Jamaica has never had a government that truly understood tourism and appreciated that the industry is an export and, as such, should be treated likewise. Instead, tourism has been constantly treated as a milch cow by successive governments, he said.
The hotelier, who spoke with the Observer -- of which he is also chairman -- during yesterday's three-day Jamaica Product Exchange tourism trade show at the Half Moon Shopping Village in Montego Bay, said of all the countries in which the Sandals resorts are located, Jamaica is by far the most difficult in which to operate as bureaucracy strangles and suffocates businesses.
"Every island we operate in, all put together, we find it much easier to deal with than Jamaica," he maintained, pointing out that this was due to policies that, because they are not properly defined, impact the cost of doing business.
He, however, commended tourism officials, particularly Jamaica Tourist Board Chairman John Lynch, for being diligent and using his vast experience to acquire comprehensive airlift at a time when Air Jamaica cannot be relied on for leisure traffic.
However, Stewart maintained that the success of the industry has been significantly due to the input of the hotel sector.
"If he (Bartlett) wants to be successful and deal with the substance of the operation side he must understand the product and its competitive needs," Stewart said, adding that greater emphasis needed to be placed on training and development of the sector's workers.
Citing an example, Stewart said a properly trained waiter acquires a profession for his entire life.
"I see some of my waiters working in New York, Boston, Germany and they live good quality lives because that profession is no different from that of a lawyer or doctor," he said.
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