Keith Collister, Business Writer

Stewart and Chris Blackwell

No one appeared to imply that prices have to be in the stratosphere and properties so exclusive as to be the preserve of the few. But the consensus, it seems, is that the future of Jamaica's tourism lies in providing the best - and the unique - to guests who are already likely to have almost everything.

"Luxury is the future of the Jamaican tourism industry," said Adam Stewart, the 25-year-old CEO of Sandals Resorts International, the hotel group built by his father.

The young Stewart was among a panel of hoteliers and other industry officials who discussed the industry at the Strawberry Hill Hotel and Spa last week as part of the fifth annual Master's of Business Administration conference.

Consecutively for a decade, the Sandals hotels in Jamaica, The Bahamas, St. Lucia, Antigua and the Turks and Caicos Islands, have been voted the world's leading all-inclusives. But while being the best is important, the term all-inclusive, in today's world means little, when everybody is riding that train, Stewart suggested.

Quality

The differentiation there is quality.

To make the point and to show how Sandals has responded to the changing environment, Stewart described a world where the American 'echo boomers", offspring of the baby boomers, had everything at their fingertips, making the days of the low-end, motel-type establishments numbered.

So Sandals decided to cater to this demand for 'lazy' luxury. It made plasma televisions and Jacuzzis standard, and serves superior wines and spirits rather than the cheaper brands standard to all-inclusive packages in the past.

Moreover, rather than being an all-inclusive competing against cruise ships, Sandals regarded themselves as competing with venues such as Disney World, which has led to partnerships with iconic programmes like Sesame Street,to differentiate their product.

Stewart's argument falls against the backdrop of a 20 per cent growth in visitor arrivals last year - to 3.1 million - and the projections for continued strong growth as Spanish companies build thousands of mid-range rooms. Yet, he is hardly the only one suggesting that trading up is the wave of the future.

"Luxury is where it's at," agreed Michelle Rollins, who, with her husband, the late John Rollins, developed the property in Rose Hall, St. James, that is now the Ritz-Carlton hotel.

Ritz-Carlton's strategy, Rollins explained, rests, in part on the idea of providing service. Such top luxury brands never stop training.

When the Ritz-Carlton came to Jamaica, Rollins recounted, there was some initial scepticism as to how Jamaican employees would adopt to its exacting standards. The company consciously hired people without work experience, but having high scores for personality and desire to please.

Highest Scores

The Jamaican staff now have among the highest scores among Ritz-Carlton's employees internationally in areas such as "fixing problems" and "willingness to please".

How did it happen? In Rollins' the answer, to a significant degree, has to do with the notion "respect" implicit in the Ritz's motto: "Ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen."

It made employees proud of their work and positively influenced standards at other Montego Bay hotels.

In her view, whilst her Palmyra development had had to blaze the way for luxury condominiums here, Jamaica had "arrived" again as a "luxury" destination as developers who were now coming with coming with "cash rather than plans".

Chris Blackwell is the maverick genius of music, who developed Island Records, sold it a decade-decade-and-a-half a go, hundreds of millions, but before that had launched several outstanding musical careers, including Bob Marley's. These days, Blackwell is better-known , through a vehicle called Island Outpost, for his boutique hotel developments, including the Strawberry Hill property, where the seminar was held.

In some respects, Blackwell suggested, Jamaica's tourism is heading back to its roots. When Jamaica's tourism industry was first created , he explained, , its hotels were all luxury high end. As one of the world's top 20 brands, not only was Jamaica the most beautiful Island in the world, but it was also unique regionally due to its strong culture.

In his view, Jamaica needed to focus on residential tourism, relying on the natural "organic" entertainment provided by its people as well as its natural beauty to compete with the "sand spits" of other Islands.

Island Outpost President Jason Henzell continued on Blackwell's theme of Jamaica's need to concentrate on "experiential tourism'.

He told the story of his own rustic property Jakes, in St Elizabeth, on the island's south coast, where tourists go to the local bars, even one set up on a reef by an enterprising fisherman. Described as the "Chicest Shack", Jakes has created a new high end "Chic Shack" category in tourism (the $400 rooms go the fastest), based on the unique experience of visitors to Treasure Beach. The needs of the hotel helped to launch, and now supports, "organic farming" in the area.

Strawberry Hill itself was now marketed as a wellness and spa destination, with tours ranging from coffee farms to Trenchtown, the tough Kingston inner-city community where Bob Marley once lived.

According to Henzel, the historical segment of experiential tourism also has huge future potential for Jamaica, as does ecotourism, a segment in which, he aid, Belize has "left us in the dust".

Tourism Minister Wykeham McNeil described Jamaica as being n the business of "selling dreams", with the key job of the hotelier being to ensure the reality was as close to the dream as possible.

In his view, Jamaica was now seeing the fruits of its investment in infrastructure in areas such as highways, water, sewage and the airport expansion. Those who have gone into the development attractions in recent years had also done very well, he said.

The quality of restaurants, however, needed to be improved, McNeil said.