THE EDITOR, Madam:
I AM a travel agent specialising in Jamaica and the Caribbean who has been coming to Jamaica regularly for the last 26 years. I have just returned from a visit to this, my favourite island, and this letter is my first order of business.
I have been away for a year and a half a particularly long time for me but I was unprepared for what I saw and felt on this return trip. As I left the Montego Bay airport for my drive to Ocho Rios, I was first shocked and then ashamed of what I saw.
While I have become accustomed to the roads themselves being in poor condition, the amount of trash and litter thrown everywhere without regard made me deeply embarrassed for the people of Jamaica. What a horrible welcome!
I tried to imagine what a first-time visitor would think, having arrived in what they were told was paradise. I wished I could find a way to blindfold my clients while they travel from the airport to their resort or villa. This is the very first impression of Jamaica that people from around the world will see, remember and talk about. I would think that the Jamaica Tourist Board would make cleaning up the roads first on their list of priorities!
It is enormously sad for me, since I can recall days when things were so much nicer here. I travelled over every inch of the island without fear.Now, with the crime rate so high, I am afraid to walk out of my hotel. The fact that the people care so little about the beauty around them reflects a lack of pride in their country. And a lack of respect for themselves and each other.What is becoming of the island where I first found such friendly, loving and dignified people?
I sometimes wonder if this isn't some ill side-effect of the all-inclusive resorts which herd tourists into their enclaves and shuttle them to attractions, as if giving them contact with the 'real' Jamaica was somehow dangerous; making Jamaica's citizens feel as if they are something to be ashamed of like some dysfunctional relative.
In the US, we have programmes where the criminals are taken from the jails and made to clean-up the roadsides. Since crime is so high right now, perhaps this is one solution to the litter problem in Jamaica.I hope that your government officials will consider it.
Tourists have lots of options about where to spend their travel dollars these days. They expect to see beauty when they come to the Caribbean. But even more importantly, the people of Jamaica deserve to live in the natural beauty that surrounds them daily, unspoiled by carelessness. I sincerely hope that someone, somewhere will hear and respond to these words.
I am etc.,
JUDI EBERLE
E-mail: Judijmaica@aol.com
