By Monique Hepburn, Staff Reporter 
Pennicook
WESTERN BUREAU:
WITH THE official start of the 2004/2005 winter tourist season less than 24 hours away, Paul Pennicook, director of tourism, has declared that despite earlier challenges, the country was poised for a successful season.
"As far as this season is concerned, we are ready, because the destination has recovered from Hurri-cane Ivan and we have been doing our adverti-sing, especially in the United States market," Mr. Pennicook told The Gleaner yesterday.
The tourism director said he was optimistic that this season, which runs from December to April, will be better than last year's when stopover arrivals stood at 495,186.
"We are hoping to better those figures in 2005, as earnings for this year against last year have increased by 10-11 per cent per person," Mr. Pennicook added.
Godfrey Dyer, president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), is also in an expectant mood ahead of the official start of the season. He said that most properties are in "good shape" and that he is expecting the season to be significantly boosted by Caribbean Marketplace, slated for January 2005, in Montego Bay.
BIG BOOST EXPECTED
"We expect that by December 22 we can begin to see heavy arrivals and come January, we expect to get a big boost when 1,500 tourism players will be coming in from the Caribbean and the wider world for Caribbean Market-place," said Mr. Dyer. "Tour operators will see first-hand, the destination they have been selling."
Against the backdrop of high expectations for the upcoming winter season, Edmund Bartlett, Opposition spokesman on tourism and sports, is expressing concern about the level of crime in the country, which he said stands to thwart Jamaica's tourism growth potential.
He said: "The issue of security must be addressed urgently as it represents the single most visible constraint to our market growth. The entire nation must be mobilised around making Jamaica safer not for tourism, but for all of us."
