BoxillJAMAICA AND the Bahamas welcome well over two million tourists to the islands every year, with Jamaica welcoming 1.3 million in 2003. However, only 500 tourists were interviewed for the study.
The study was carried out over a six-month period, January to June 2004 using mainly ethnographic work in Jamaica and Barbados. The researchers used what is known in social sciences as convenience samples of 500 tourists and 60 in-depth interviews with people living with HIV/AIDS, health workers, HIV/AIDS activists, human resource managers and policy makers in both countries. "It is almost impossible to get a representative sample, but a large enough sample to give you an idea of what is happening with tourists," Dr. Boxill defended his study.
"We are not saying all tourists are doing that, but what it does is point to what is happening. When we crossed our fieldwork with other studies, what we see are clear patterns emerging. Patterns emerging which clearly point that what we are doing is not wrong."
He also noted that a more representative sample could have been used in the study, but the researchers didn't have access to the airports or other ports of entry. "You don't get full co-operation of persons within the industry, because people are sceptical towards research and information. There is no attempt to seriously and rigorously look at a number of issues in the sector and the one big problem with the tourism sector is that it is the investors and government officials who make the call. They have no regard for people who want to do research in the industry it is the one industry that has not been properly studied by academics. You would never find that in bauxite and the oil industry. Tourism has been held up as a special industry and still you cannot do the studies."
Dr. Boxill noted that this is the problem in most of the Caribbean and that it may be due to the key players in the industry.
