THE EDITOR, Sir:
FOR THE last 10 to 12 years, Jamaica has seen an influx of all-inclusive hotels. Good or bad, some of these hotels have given some towns in Jamaica a corporate image. However, the smaller hotels and villas are suffering.
In the summer of 1999, there was a report of owners of all-inclusives offering deep discounts to remain viable. I took it on myself then to question some people I know who went to Jamaica on vacation. None of them paid more than US$500, including airfare for their one-week stay.
I asked myself back then, how could the hotels and the Jamaican economy survive on that? First of all, the money is paid in the United States to travel agencies, who in turn pay the necessary parties.
All-inclusive hotels are going to be the downfall of Jamaica's tourist industry, it is having a negative impact on other sectors of the economy. Namely, the entertainment industry as the hotels offer entertainment on their own premises, and when they don't they send the tourists out to clubs they recommend.
Last year, I went to Jamaica and stayed in Montego Bay, on the "Hip Strip" (Gloucester Avenue), except for Margaritaville, for most part the place was a ghost town after dark. I told a friend that this was the place to be in Montego Bay years ago.
OK, there is crime and violence in Jamaica, which is why hotels have resorted to be all-inclusive. But steps can be taken to provide security for tourists on a strip that is only about a mile in length.
Instead of spending millions of dollars annually on advertisements to tourists who are not coming, the government should use that money to subsidise airfares, hotels and rent-a-cars for Jamaicans to come home. They will not only spend money on these, but will bring some into whatever villages and small towns that they are from.
I guarantee that whenever Jamaicans start coming, tourists will follow.
I am, etc.,
STEVE DOUGLAS
kellits@aol.com
Via Go-Jamaica
