Chris
TuftonThe latest report on poverty in Jamaica indicates that 11 parishes have seen an increase in poverty levels. Overall, poverty has increased during the period
1998 to 2002, from just over 15 per cent to 19.7 per cent.
St. Ann is the hardest hit, now the parish with the highest level. With a poverty line set at just over $47,000 per individual per year, St. Ann had a whopping 37 per cent incidence of poverty.
The report is instructive in a number of respects. Generally, it speaks to how vulnerable we are as a country. Too many Jamaicans are bordering on poverty and are easily tipped over the edge with even minor unexpected occurrences. Living from hand to mouth, as they say, with nothing for a rainy day.
Tourism in st. Ann
More specifically, the report tells us a lot about the quality of our tourism product and more specifically tourism's impact on the parish of St. Ann.
In the case of St. Ann, the 2001 terrorist attack in the United States was blamed for the fall in visitor arrivals as well as drought which hit agriculture and the livelihood of farmers.
However, while these might be some explanation for poverty increases in that parish, due to its heavy dependence on tourism and agriculture, surely they cannot be advanced for poverty increases in the other parishes.
Some may even argue that the war on terrorism has been good for destinations like Jamaica because tourists are more fearful of going to other parts of the world, like Europe and Asia. This seems a more plausible explanation.
Elusive growth
There must be a more fundamental problem with the operation of our economy that is contributing to these increasing levels of inactivity and stagnation. What are the factors causing poverty to rise in Manchester, St. Elizabeth, and the other parishes?
Increasingly, one has to conclude that we are not managing our affairs effectively, including planning for unpredictable occurrences.
With all the predictions of growth over the last decade and a half, Jamaica is having a hard time experiencing net positive economic activity that leads to substantial and sustainable wealth creation.
When all is said and done, more is said than done, as far as economic expansion is concerned. We are just not getting it right.
When the data is analysed, Jamaica has seen less growth over the last 15 years than most Caribbean countries and by the world at large.
During the last decade and a half, the world economy has grown cumulatively by just under 80 per cent with developing countries growing by over 130 per cent.
Within the region, St. Kitts grew by 100 per cent, St. Vincent by 85 per cent and Grenada by 83 per cent. Over this period, Jamaica has only been able to grow by 24 per cent.
It is difficult to argue convincingly that our lack of growth is due to external factors. It's quite clear that while the world is moving, while developing countries are moving, while our neighbours in the region are moving, we are just not getting it right.
Exploitation of Tourism
In fact, it can be argued that in a number of ways, Jamaica has had more than its fair share of opportunities to expand and improve its growth prospects.
Again, we can take tourism as a case in point. It's our number one industry in terms of foreign exchange earnings, competing only for the top spot with remittances.
In my view, this industry is being exploited for all it can give with little or no consideration for its sustainability and stability.
Here, leadership at the policy level is to blame. The net effect is a product that is increasingly becoming sub-standard while our natural resources are being depleted.
One only has to visit the main tourist towns and the outskirts of the main tourist areas to see what tourism, in its present form and structure, is doing to the country. I will venture to say, in many cases, its doing more harm than good, at least for those who have the vision to see beyond the immediate.
Slums or parasitic communities are increasing with every major new investment in a hotel. These are Jamaicans looking for work and opportunities. They can find none elsewhere so they converge on these seemingly attractive areas. Those who are able to find legitimate work have difficulty finding housing, proper schooling, or health care services.
We hear of announcements of 5,000 to 6,000 rooms in the near future but nothing of supporting infrastructure such as housing for workers or environmental assessments and programmes to ensure that our natural sites and beaches are preserved for generations.
Instead, we react to development after the fact and only when we are on the edge or involved in a crisis that clearly threatens the viability of the activity. By then, corrections are costly and the product loses its shine.
The St. Ann Dilemma
One needs no more evidence of our lack of forward planning than from the recent announcement that the parish of St. Ann, with its tourist town of Ocho Rios, is the poorest parish. This clearly tells us that tourism, as great as the potential represents, is no panacea for ensuring a community's economic well-being.
As Harvard professor, Michael Porter puts it, in his research
findings captured in the publication, The Competitive Advantage of Nations, a nation's competitiveness and prosperity are dependent on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade. Porter argues that natural resources are no guarantee for prosperity, as prosperity is created not inherited.
This is so true as evidenced by so many countries in the world, including our own Jamaica.
Negril, for example, only became a candidate for main infrastructure development, when it was clear that the coastline was polluted and the beaches were being eroded. So even though we are not short on natural resources, we are woefully short on vision and management.
With St. Ann now forced to cope with urban slum and poverty, there might be a greater urgency on the part of Government to steer this ship back on course. How we manage our tourism industry is a classic
case study on how not to manage a tourism industry, if the intention is to ensure long-term viability. This must be the lesson learnt from St. Ann.
Leadership and Environment
Generation 2000 (G2K), a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP)
affiliate, conducted a study in 2003 examining the quality of the main water sources including beaches and rivers in Jamaica, and the results were troubling.
In fact, in the end we had to title the paper Troubled Waters, indicative of the troubling findings that were discovered relating to the polluted nature of our coastlines and rivers, solely, I might add, due to our own complacency and inaction.
Again, a case in point is St. Ann and the Dunn's River Falls, one of our main tourist attractions and the premier natural waterfalls in the Caribbean and the region. Based on a study that was conducted in January 2000 and March 2001, the water quality of the Dunn's River was below acceptable standards (and I will leave it at that).
A similar finding was discovered when water was tested along the main beaches in the town. What is even more amazing were the sources of pollutants identified in these cases. These were a
combination of cattle grazing in the watershed areas along the river bank and squatters who lived upstream. The irony and tragedy of this episode are that the lands are controlled by one of the main agencies of government responsible for development the Urban Development Corporation.
Failure to Plan
When all things are considered, this Government is approaching the development of tourism in a manner that is inimical to the long-term development of the country and its people. We are exporting slums across rural Jamaica by providing the bait in the form of hotel construction, with very little consideration given to other critical forms of infrastructure. Very little consideration to product diversification, even less consideration to linking the main tourism activity to other first and second-tier supplier activities such as agriculture, light manufacturing, craft, and tours.
The net effect of this are the expansion of slums and a leakage rate of each dollar earned from tourism to the tune of 50 per cent. This is primarily due to the high import content of the industry.
When other tourism destinations within the Caribbean are considered, Jamaica is among the islands with the highest leakage rate. A study conducted by University of the West Indies (UWI) lecturer Diaram Ramjee Sing, concludes that in terms of leakage, countries such as Antigua and Barbuda (25 per cent leakage), United States Virgin Islands (36 per cent leakage), Aruba (41 per cent leakage), are all doing better than us.
All this means that we are depleting our natural resources with the risk of not being able to sustain or replace these activities because earnings are weak. Ramjee Sing's article compared net per capita earnings between a number of countries in the Caribbean and found Jamaica, again, lagging behind.
In 2000, Jamaica's net per capita earnings from tourism were US$441 while the U.S. Virgin Islands (US$6,123), Antigua and Barbuda (US$2,743), St. Lucia (US$781) and Aruba (US$7, 067), were doing much better.
It is full time that our government understands that tourism cannot offer a solution to our problems if, like all other areas of economic and social activities, there is not the vision and management to ensure that it works in our interests. I have no doubt that the hotel investors who continue to invest in Jamaica are doing well.
That is their motivation to invest here. The day when they believe that their investments are threatened or are not giving them the returns they want, then they will look
elsewhere. It is in our interest never to let that day come. This, however, can only be achieved by ensuring that our offerings are safe, enjoyable and sustainable.
Today, St. Ann is in the spotlight but this parish is not the only tourist destination facing this potential dilemma. Negril and Montego Bay are similarly challenged and if action is not taken, Trelawny and the south coast will follow. Let's not make this happen.
Dr. Chris Tufton is a Jamaica Labour Party Senator and the president of Generation 2000 (G2K), an affiliate of the JLP. Send
comments to CCTufton@yahoo.com or infocus@gleanerjm.com.
