The Editor, Sir:

Growing concerns have been voiced by the tourism sector that billions of Jamaican dollars will be lost because of cancellations over the new Caricom visa regime.

I tend to be very sceptical these days about the figures cited every time there is a change which is said to impact visitor arrivals.

Last year, the decision by the United States to make it mandatory for its citizens who visit the region to have a passport was described as having the same effect as a major category six hurricane.

It now turns out the estimated loses reported were greatly exaggerated and that the impact after all was very minimal as over 80 per cent of our visitors already had passports.

I am, however, very concerned about our government's decision to continue to project the tourism sector as the engine of growth and the main foreign exchange earner for the country.

Find alternatives

My concern lies in the fact that any major event, be it a hurricane, a travel advisory or even the requirement to have a visa to deter terrorism could have a disastrous impact on the revenue inflow to this country.

We need to have alternative income streams for our country.

China is today a growing world power with a significant increase in visitor arrivals over the last few years. However, its manufac-turing sector is making the greatest impact.

Tourism is indeed good for the country, but I think we have concentrated 'too many eggs' in one basket.

I am, etc.,

WINSTON WILLIAMS

patex_us2000@yahoo.com

Basseterre, St. Kitts

Via Go-Jamaica