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McNeill defends poor tourist figures
ISHENA ROBINSON Business Reporter
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
A sluggish increase in stopover arrivals since the start of the year cannot be blamed on the current administration, said the Tourism Minister yesterday.
In response to the Opposition's criticism of an only one per cent growth in stopover arrivals compared to last year, Minister McNeill has charged that his administration inherited declining numbers.
Tourists at a craft market in Ocho Rios.
"There was a slide in stopover arrivals since May 2011, which worsened from the second half of last year into January 2012 in spite of the fact that there was adequate airlift," he said. "Stopover arrivals were down 1.6 per cent in December 2011 while in January 2012 we were down three per cent over the same period last year."
Minister McNeill was responding to charges that stopover arrivals should have had greater growth for the season ending April, in light of Jamaica being added as a destination to more airlines.
"We cannot only assess our performance based on the availability of air seats," said the Minister. "Our main markets experienced the warmest winter in decades, which affected travel to Jamaica. There is also the fact that travel out of Europe is being affected by the ongoing recession."
McNeill has been asked to disclose projected stopover arrival figures for the rest of the year by Opposition spokesman Ed Bartlett.
The Ministry needs to outline a more aggressive marketing strategy to bolster stopover arrivals for the coming tourism seasons, said Mr. Bartlett.
Stopover visitors accounted for 739,000 of overall arrivals between January and April, compared to 733,000 recorded during the same period last year.
Last week Minister McNeil reported that total visitor arrivals to the island grew to 19.9 per cent from last year, largely owing to an influx of cruise ship arrivals.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/busin...#ixzz1uNUxywUx
ISHENA ROBINSON Business Reporter
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
A sluggish increase in stopover arrivals since the start of the year cannot be blamed on the current administration, said the Tourism Minister yesterday.
In response to the Opposition's criticism of an only one per cent growth in stopover arrivals compared to last year, Minister McNeill has charged that his administration inherited declining numbers.
Tourists at a craft market in Ocho Rios.
"There was a slide in stopover arrivals since May 2011, which worsened from the second half of last year into January 2012 in spite of the fact that there was adequate airlift," he said. "Stopover arrivals were down 1.6 per cent in December 2011 while in January 2012 we were down three per cent over the same period last year."
Minister McNeill was responding to charges that stopover arrivals should have had greater growth for the season ending April, in light of Jamaica being added as a destination to more airlines.
"We cannot only assess our performance based on the availability of air seats," said the Minister. "Our main markets experienced the warmest winter in decades, which affected travel to Jamaica. There is also the fact that travel out of Europe is being affected by the ongoing recession."
McNeill has been asked to disclose projected stopover arrival figures for the rest of the year by Opposition spokesman Ed Bartlett.
The Ministry needs to outline a more aggressive marketing strategy to bolster stopover arrivals for the coming tourism seasons, said Mr. Bartlett.
Stopover visitors accounted for 739,000 of overall arrivals between January and April, compared to 733,000 recorded during the same period last year.
Last week Minister McNeil reported that total visitor arrivals to the island grew to 19.9 per cent from last year, largely owing to an influx of cruise ship arrivals.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/busin...#ixzz1uNUxywUx
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