Friday, March 29, 2024

BEHIND THE HEADLINES: Caribbean tourism: the need for integration

Date:

Share post:

When Dr Kenneth McNeil becomes chairman of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) next year, don’t be surprise if you hear the Jamaica Minister of Tourism use the word “inclusiveness” quite a lot.

At first glance in Barbados, Jamaica, The Bahamas, St Lucia, and their neighbours, the word points a finger in the direction of “all-inclusive” hotels which offer packages to visitors that provide almost everything – transportation, tours, meals, entertainment, accommodation and drinks – for a single price. In short, from soup to nuts.

But on a second glance and after listening to McNeil it would become clear that the current vice chairman of the UNWTO has a more expansive idea in mind, something Barbadians, for instance, have heard quite a lot about for decades.

“The inclusiveness of your tourism sector goes to the point that for tourism to be really sustainable in a country, the populace needs to feel they are part of the planning and part of the implementation of it. And they must be among those reaping the rewards,” said the 57-year old physician who represents Western Westmoreland in Jamaica’s lower house of parliament.

Stated simply, the commercial partners in the sector must run the gamut from peasant farmers, poultry and milk producers and furniture manufacturers to local artistes and other cultural gurus. Added to that list must be local investors. Although the idea isn’t exactly new, its importance can’t be overstated. Why then after so many years integration in a seamless fashion has proven to be so elusive?

A key reason is the lack of economies of scale, defined by Reem Heakal of Investopedia, as the point at which “more units of a good or service can be produced on a larger scale, yet with less input costs” and with financial success. Failure to achieve it has been a major barrier to universal embrace of an industry by people at all levels of society. Adam Smith, the 18th century Scottish economist and author of the Wealth Of Nations, insisted that economies of scale were tied to the division of labour and specialisation as key factors, both of which raise profits through higher levels of efficiency and lower production costs.

As McNeil explained it in New York, his country isn’t simply setting its sights on faster, better and cheaper goods and services from its tourism industry but it wants more firms and individuals to have a financial stake in a sector that brings in the second largest amount of foreign exchange after remittances from Jamaicans abroad. In other words it wants to share the wealth generated by tourism.

“Two years ago we started a project in the Ministry of Tourism called the linkages hub,” McNeil explained. “The hub has a number of young private sector persons on it. This linkages hub has one goal: we want to ensure that the things that are consumed in hotels whether it is food, paintings (artwork) furniture or other items, we want to see if we can make it in Jamaica so that we can stimulate the economy and retain money in Jamaica.”

By involving them in a systematic way, asserted McNeil, more people would be employed and that in turn would contribute to the raising of living standards while at the same time reducing the food import bill which like Barbados’ is astronomical. Actually, the timing couldn’t be better. For more and more visitors from North America, the United Kingdom and across Europe are beginning to travel once again after the economic pain caused by the global financial meltdown and they are putting the Caribbean high on their list of places to go for a vacation.  

At a Carib News Editorial Board meeting in Manhattan the other day, McNeil acknowledged that far too many Jamaicans, for instance,  were asking a key question: what are the benefits tourism brings to the average person?

That’s why the Portia Simpson administration and the ministry of tourism in particular have devised a game-plan to bring more people under the tourism umbrella. From the vegetable farmer and egg producer to the furniture manufacturer and the artists their involvement in tourism is considered crucial. And it must be direct and profitable.

“Tourism can transform the Jamaican economy because of the economies of scale that it presents,” said McNeil, “If you talk to Jamaicans you get mixed results,” explained the minister. “Yes, they are for tourism, but many do feel it hasn’t benefitted in the way that they expect and it hasn’t done what they feel it should do.”

That’s where integration or inclusiveness comes in and what’s happening in Jamaica is also occurring in Barbados and the rest of the region.

Mark Brantley, St Kitts-Nevis’ opposition leader who is also deputy premier of Nevis agrees with McNeil but insists what’s needed is action, not words.

“If tourism is the engine that drives most of our economies in the Caribbean, I think we should have that trickle down effect to the poultry farmer to the guy who is producing cabbages as the case may be,” said Brantley, Nevis’ minister of tourism. “The difficulty, though, is that I find in the region, the ideals that are espoused are not matched with action.”

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Related articles

No decision yet on Lester Vaughan School

A firm decision has not yet been made regarding when the Lester Vaughan School will be reopened. Following a...

BDF to conduct simulation exercise on April 2 & 3

The Barbados Defence Force (BDF) will conduct a Mass Casualty Simulation Exercise from Tuesday, April 2, to Wednesday,...

Barbadians reminded to file taxes online as filing season starts

The Barbados Revenue Authority (the BRA) is advising that tax filing season for 2023 begins on April 1 this...

Minister Abrahams’ statement on Ismail Patel’s passing

Below is the full statement by Minister of Home Affairs and Information, Wilfred Abrahams: I was saddened to...