JAMAICA: Good Developments In Tourism All Round

When the global economic crisis took its awful toll a few years ago, tourism was among the major cornerstones as Jamaica somehow kept its head above water.

As the economy slowly stabilises and there are cautious projections of sustainable economic growth in the years to come, a robust and thriving tourism sector will be critical.

Against that backdrop, this newspaper notes with pleasure word from Director of Tourism Mr Paul Pennicook that the visitor arrival figures last year were encouraging and are likely to be even better in 2016.

According to Mr Pennicook, stopover arrivals grew by two per cent (roughly 50,000 more visitors than in 2014) and is expected to increase by four per cent in 2016.

The ongoing rapid expansion of hotel rooms is obviously a major contributor to Jamaica’s sustained tourism growth. Mr Pennicook tells us that, this winter, approximately 1,200 additional rooms (new and refurbished) have been opened. And many more are projected in the months and years to come.

Just to underline this point regarding growth in tourism and its value, the Planning Institute of Jamaica’s (PIOJ) Social and Economic Survey for 2014 said visitor arrivals (both stopover and cruise ship) increased by seven per cent to 3.5 million people relative to 2013.

Provisional visitor expenditure was US$2.235 billion, 5.8 per cent more than in 2013, according to the PIOJ. Stopover visitors spent more than US$2.111 billion and cruise passengers spent over US$123 million.

In the hotel and restaurant sector of the tourism industry 80,500 people were said to be employed in 2014, up from 75,750 in 2013.

Those directly involved in Jamaica’s tourism, including investors and workers, know from hard experience that success can only be sustained if there is no let up in the quest to keep visitors happy and to find new and innovative ways to attract even more visitors.

For that reason this newspaper applauds the initiative of Sandals Resorts International to partner with the world famous Marley clan for what is being described as a “colossal” marketing campaign to promote the Sandals experience and, by extension, Jamaica’s tourism.

As we understand it, the campaign dubbed ‘No Worry’ will involve Mr Skip Marley, grandson of the late Mr Bob Marley, at the centre of a global advertising effort using the Marley classic Three Little Birds.

We are struck by the description of the partnership by Mr Adam Stewart, CEO of Sandals Resorts, as the bringing together of “two iconic relationships (Marley and Sandals)”. Forgive us if we sound unduly nationalistic, but this newspaper is proud that the relationship is entirely Jamaican.

We take pleasure from the comment by Sandals Chairman Mr Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart that “it’s time now to go back to our Jamaican roots and the flavour of the marketing and advertising…”

Sandals, we are happy to say, is continuing to pave a progressive path for Jamaica’s tourism.