Gareth Manning, Gleaner Writer
AGGRESSIVE INTERNATIONAL marketing of Jamaica by the Jamaica Tourist Board has positioned the island for great things in 2006. According to tourism director Paul Pennicooke, the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) has been vigorously working with travel agencies and hoteliers to balance the perception of the country as the murder capital of the world. As a result, the country is set to benefit from a 10 - 11 per cent increase in stop-over arrivals during the 2005 - 2006 winter tourist season.
Jamaica is already benefiting from a four per cent increase in U.S. stop-over arrivals and increased hotel occupancy over the Christmas period. Most hotels enjoyed occupancy of between 80 and 90 per cent during the holidays, while others boasted 100 per cent occupancy.
While marketing may have been intense, Pennicooke does not downplay the fact that the country may also be benefiting from the effects of Hurricane Wilma on Cancún, Mexico, last August.
"What has happened is the fact that Cancún is damaged and a number of places are closed, we are one of the beneficiaries of that business that would have gone to Cancún," he says.
But while that may be so, the JTB will intensify its marketing approach come the new year, to combat the crime wave. Mr. Pennicooke says the board will meet in January to discuss strategies to increase visitor arrivals during the summer and fall seasons.
Chairman of the Sandals Group Gordon 'Butch' Stewart believes that Jamaica's growing crime problem has put the tourism industry in crisis.
"We've been lucky the Tourist [Board] has been able to manage the situation in a way that we keep a lot of things under the radar. But the day that you have a certain kind of explosive problem that penetrates the media heavier, that will force the international media to send investigative journalists down; you really run the risk of putting your industry in ruin," Mr. Stewart says.
He adds that the escalating crime situation has changed the economic profile of tourists coming to the island. He says this also puts pressure on hotel rates as hotels have to discount their prices in order to attract business.
"It puts you in the position where you're seeing your tourism product as damaged goods in having to do it (discounting)," he says.
Mr. Pennicooke agrees that the crime situation has turned away a number of visitors from our shores. He says though crimes against tourists are low, the high murder rate is not good for the sector.
"Crime is one of a number of factors that would make the destination less desirable and in that regard, it puts pressure on our rates, because we are not the first choice in some cases," he says.
He says the industry has battled negativity through a number of public relations strategies.
