By Omar Anderson, Gleaner Writer
WITH TERRORISM fears scaring visitors away from a number of European and Asian destinations, Jamaica has been the beneficiary of an extraordinary tourism boom, industry players say.
They point to last month alone when more than 124,000 stopover visitors descended on the nation's shores, an almost 18 per cent increase over the same period last year.
Josef Forstmayr, general manager of the Round Hill hotel in Hanover, in describing the month of April as "the best ever", attributed the boom to "aggressive marketing by the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), and the worldwide geo-political environment."
RELATIVELY SAFE DESTINATION
In addition, he said Jamaica was increasingly being viewed as a relatively safe destination by overseas travellers.
"Tourists are now concerned about personal safety like terrorist threats," Mr. Forstmayr said. "Our American visitors are not focusing on a perceived threat... harassment."
The former Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) president credited Air Jamaica for embarking on an aggressive marketing and advertising programme which, he said, has made it the envy of other major international carriers.
"The marketing has forced other airlines to look again at Jamaica and the Caribbean," Mr. Forstmayr said, adding that visitors are now being re-directed to Jamaica and the Caribbean from terrorist-prone Mediterranean and Middle East destinations.
JHTA president Godfrey Dyer agreed. He said it was clear that Jamaica and by extension, the wider Caribbean were benefiting from the threat of terrorism now plaguing several European destinations.
"With all that is happening across the Atlantic, not many people are going there for vacation, so the Caribbean
is becoming more attractive," he noted. Specifically, he said, Jamaica, through aggressive JTB advertising and "the ease in which passengers are flown here," appears to be the choice destination in the Caribbean presently.
According to figures obtained from the JTB, a total 124,152 visitors arrived in the island last month. Some 34,608 of this number arrived in the island during April 1-7. Another 28,776 arrived between April 8 and 14, the height of the Easter season.
Tourism Minister Aloun Assamba, however, is in no mood to concede that Jamaica was benefiting from the terrorism threats in far away destinations.
"I don't want to attribute our success to the unfortunate things happening in other destinations," she said. "We have done a lot to prepare an exciting destination to which people want to come."
She pointed to what she called "aggressive advertising and the warmth of industry staff".
For his part, John Issa, chairman of the SuperClubs all-inclusive hotel chain, said that while he was happy with last month's arrivals, the percentage could have been higher based on the stopover figures prior to the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
"It's very important that we look at these numbers in context, so that the private and public sectors will work very hard to promote the industry to get even greater numbers," he said.
SPENDING INCREASED
In the meantime, Mr. Forstmayr said figures from the JTB showed that up to the end of the winter tourist season in March, the average visitor spending increased by 10 per cent compared to the last winter tourist season.
"They (tourists) are spending more which is our objective," he said. He added that there were already signs that the bullish tourist arrivals have been filtering to our sectors of the economy.
"We seem to be in it for a good run," Mr. Forstmayr said. "I don't see the international geo-political situation improving anytime soon, therefore, there will be more and more focus on destinations closer to North America."
