The Editor, Sir:

Just over a week ago the country was shocked by the news of the temporary closure of one of the Iberostar hotels, and the subsequent laying off of over 200 workers.

After all, the minister of tourism has been reporting to the country that stopover arrivals are up and the latest figures show growth of 3.4 per cent for the period January to June 2009. Further, Iberostar is one of the new Spanish hotels and they have strong marketing muscle.

So what happened? Well, the reality is that in 2008 Jamaica saw the opening of 2,400 new hotel rooms, a 9.3 per cent growth in room stock. So if our stopover arrivals have grown by 3.4 per cent then our occupancy levels must be falling generally and operators must be hurting.

Heavy discounting

Another reality is that we have been attracting many of our visitors by heavy discounting of hotel rates. In some cases, hotels are discounting their rates up to 50 and 60 per cent to keep business going as the full effect of the global recession are now being felt. This means that even those hotels that have been managing to attract the same number of visitors as last year have seen their revenues fall, and their earnings cut in half because of the discounting.

This is why I have repeatedly pointed out that just looking at arrival figures is superficial, misleading, and serves to distract the Jamaican people from the reality of our present situation.

People in the industry know that we are going through difficult times and the next three months are going to be particularly challenging as they are the traditionally slow months. This was the reason behind the Opposition's call for the Government to extend the stimulus package to the tourism sector, which the minister of finance heeded, albeit in a limited way.

Silver lining

There is, however, a silver lining in the dark clouds hanging over the industry. The Canadian market is still performing exceptionally well, with growth of 28.3 per cent over last year at a time when our other two major markets, the USA and Europe, are down. This shows the value of the strategic policy decision taken in 2003, to focus on this market.

It is critical that there be an early push to get a full-fledged joint industry/JTB winter marketing campaign under way. With increased frequency we are seeing television advertisements in the US by Caribbean countries such as Bahamas, Barbados and St Lucia, and this is going to intensify. Stiffer competition can also be expected from Mexico, as Mexican president Felipe Calderon, in the wake of the swine flu epidemic, has announced a US$92 million programme to restore the country's tourism market position.

We have to immediately get our joint campaign going as it is through a combined effort that Jamaica will best be able to hold its own against the heightened competition, and ensure that we get our share of the shrinking global travel market.

I am, etc.,

WYKEHAM MCNEILL

wykehammcneill@gmail.com