The Editor, Sir:

Regarding the February 25 story about Jamaica not being the favoured destination for overprivileged college students from the United States, in my view, that's not necessarily a bad thing. And using the recent policies regarding passports as a scapegoat makes the problem even more apparent.

Over the past 10 years, I have often travelled to Jamaica around the spring break period. The conversations in the airport lobbies, on the airplane returning to their homes, and in my college classrooms, reveal some of the reasons why the mystique has evaporated.

Jamaica simply is too expensive for what they get. Students say they want to party, but really, they don't really expect to see a replication of Six Flags America-style amusement parks. They want to experience what this country is really about. They want a peek beyond the mystique even though they're probably high while doing so.

What they get is glimpses of the dirt, decline, corruption, mistreatment which tells them that they either should return as Peace Corps types, or not at all.

What's missing from the development of tourism in Jamaica is a love of the place and the people who make this place what it is. The disdain with which Jamaican citizens are treated by policymakers is clearly evident to the naked, uncritical eye of spring breakers.

What is needed? Radically new ideas about planning and management of the built environment, mass firing of the government folks who are currently running the country into the ground, and sustained efforts to nurture and sustain an educated (not just school-related, but civic-minded) and engaged public.

In truth, Jamaica needs a break from tourism. We need to address the social infrastructure to make it possible for people to be less dependent on one industry for survival. We - from the 'swims' lady in St. Elizabeth to the JUTA driver in Montego Bay - need to be able to say proudly and truthfully that residents of this country matter just as much, if not more than, the visitors. Only then can the indigenous sense of pride, that is most often expressed through mob violence and desperate but ineffective demonstrations, develop into something that makes Jamaica worth going to, over and over again. And we would all - residents and visitors alike - be better off for it.

I am, etc.,

NATALIE BENNETT

gelede@gmail.com

Via Go-Jamaica