( L - R ) Bartlett and Smith

Shelly-Ann Thompson, Gleaner Writer

Opposition Spokesman on Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, says the winter tourist season is looking gloomy and that he is sceptical about Jamaica receiving the projected visitor arrivals for the duration of Cricket World Cup 2007.

Mr. Bartlett claimed yesterday that this year's visitor arrivals, in comparison to the same period last year, had shown a decline.

He said that, for February, hotel bookings were down by five per cent while January experienced a 0.7 per cent decrease.

With Jamaica hosting the Cricket World Cup (CWC) opening ceremony and Group D matches at Sabina Park, there was, nonetheless, a similar five per cent decline for the first two weeks of March.

"This being the penultimate month to the end of the winter season, it is a clear indication that World Cup cricket has not made the contributions to visitor arrivals as was anticipated since the hotels are facing normal winter tourism traffic," said Mr. Bartlett.

Local organisers for CWC were expecting 12,000 overseas travellers to visit Jamaica for the tournament.

Cause for concern

At the same time, Director of Tourism Basil Smith said the downfall in arrivals is a cause for concern.

"A meeting will be held with the hotel association next week to develop some strategies to respond to the situation," said Mr. Smith.

"From last year we anticipated a difficult tourism year, because of the passport implementations and the impact of Canc?n, Mexico, resurgence," he added.

Meanwhile, St. Lucia's hoteliers seem to be experiencing a similar downfall in projected visitor arrivals for CWC.

In a CMC report, communications manager for the St. Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association, Sylvanus Fontenard, said there had not been a significant increase in occupancy as had been expected.

"We have so far not realised any major impact on our occupancy levels, and in fact, the figures are down at some properties because people who would have normally come at this time have stayed away thinking that they would have had problems obtaining accommodation and flights given all the World Cup hype," he said.

shelly-ann.thompson@gleanerjm.com