By Monique Hepburn, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
WITH THE expected cuts in the budget for promotions and marketing at the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), Mr. Edmund Bartlett, the Opposition spokesman on Tourism, is predicting that the sector will have increased difficulty in attracting more visitors to the island, especially from Europe.
In an interview with The Gleaner on Friday, Mr. Bartlett said the announcement made in the recent budget presentation by Finance Minister, Dr. Omar Davies, is going to prevent further growth in the sector. According to him, prior to the budget presentation, reports were already showing a decrease in visitor arrivals from Europe for the month of February.
"The Government's short-sightedness in this cut is going to affect the ability of the JTB to meet the targets that they have indicated in the budget," Mr. Bartlett said. "Overseas marketing has been cut from $1.06 billion last year to $876 million this year. This is from where all our advertising, promotions and critical marketing activities get funding."
OUTSTANDING BILLS
According to Mr. Bartlett, the JTB will not have a great deal of funds with which to advertise as it has outstanding bills to be settled with its overseas advertising contractors. It also has to pay US$2.5 million annually to service a loan from the National Commercial Bank (NCB).
Based on his calculations, Mr. Bartlett said that the real amount available to the JTB for advertising is closer to US$6.
"Where under God's heaven can US$6 drive a growth projection of 10.4 per cent increase in earnings and 7.6 per cent increase in visitor arrivals?" Mr. Bartlett asked. "Something is radically wrong with the method of computing, or indeed this budget is not worth the paper on which it is written."
Mr. Bartlett is further contending that he had predicted that the current lack of advertising in Europe would have had a negative effect on visitor arrivals from that continent.
"The out-turn from Europe has already been affected as there is a decline in arrivals from Europe, especially from the Italian market," he said.
When contacted by The Gleaner for a response, Paul Pennicook, Director of the JTB, declined to comment on the JTB's budget allocation: "At this point I have no comments concerning the budget," he said.
However, while Mr. Pennicook confirmed that the Italian arrivals had in fact decreased, he refused to state whether or not this was the result of the lack of advertising in Europe.
