IT WAS REPORTED in The Gleaner on Friday that our island has been seeing an increase in visitor arrivals.
The report stated that terrorism fears have been scaring visitors away from a number of European and Asian destinations and as a result Jamaica has been the beneficiary of an extraordinary tourism boom.
It was revealed that last month alone more than 124,000 stopover visitors came to Jamaica. This represented an almost 18 per cent increase over the same period last year.
Industry players were reported as saying that Jamaica was increasingly being viewed as a relatively safe destination by overseas travellers. Interestingly, in the same article, Tourism Minister Aloun Assamba, was quoted as saying that she does not want to attribute the success to "unfortunate things happening in other destinations."
One could never have expected to hear anything else. How typical is this of the Government, always trying to take the praise for what Jamaica has obviously gained by default. We do not believe that the scandals which have rocked the Jamaica Tourist Board coupled with the less than adequate amount given to tourism in the budget could ever be enough to give the country the boom it is now enjoying.
What the Government should seek to do now is to capitalise on this lucky turn of events and ensure that if and when things return to normal across the Atlantic, the tourists would have enjoyed their stay here so much that they wouldn't even think of going somewhere else to spend their vacations.
