Garwin Davis, Gleaner Writer

"They could talk as much as they want to about how well the sector is doing, but if the little man on the ground is not seeing the benefits then what's the use?" asked Percy Mesquito, owner of the Marine View Hotel in Ocho Rios.

Small business interests in the resort towns have accused the government of fostering a tourism climate which favours only the very rich, arguing that the sector no longer caters to the smaller players.

They note that while the govern-ment continues to brag about the healthy state of the tourism industry, "the smaller players are consistently being marginalised, and are at the mercy of powerful monopolies."

"They could talk as much as they want to about how well the sector is doing, but if the little man on the ground is not seeing the benefits then what's the use?" asked Percy Mesquito, owner of the Marine View Hotel in Ocho Rios, St. Ann.

"Talk to any of the small hotel owners in this town; talk to the restaurant and bar owners about the business they are seeing from this supposed tourism boom. It's all a bunch of hogwash if you ask me."

JTB data release

According to data released by the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), stopover arrivals for the period January to September have grown by 17.2 per cent when compared to the same period last year. Cruise ship arrivals, the agency said, have also increased 15 per cent over the same period to 950,329 visitors, while in July, Jamaica welcomed a record 180,000 visitors. Gross foreign exchange earnings, the JTB added, stood at US$1.4 billion for the same January-September period, an increase of 24.6 per cent over the same period last year.

Patrick Fisher, a villa and car rental owner operating out of Montego Bay, said the figures released by the JTB painted a rosy picture that, "contrasted greatly with the realities on the ground." "Tourism boom for who or whom?" he asked. "What we have is a situation where the smaller players cannot compete in what can best be described as a climate of greed and the government does nothing to ensure there is some level of equity."

PM accused of hypocrisy

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has also come in for some criticism, with several persons accusing her of hypocrisy. "As a former tourism minister, as someone who has seen up close and personal how the small man is treated in this sector, I expected a lot more from our honourable prime minister," said Brian Turner, a St. Ann businessman. "It's not a case of asking for handouts, it's just that we want the opportunity to compete like the bigger players and for this thing of paying drivers to take visitors to a specified location to stop."

Opposition Leader Bruce Golding, in a visit to St. Ann two weeks ago, said he was very disturbed by what he described as tourists not being allowed to make their own decisions on places to visit. "We cannot continue to herd them up like sheep and take them to particular locations," he said. "The small man must feel that there are opportunities in tourism for him also."