Opposition spokesman on Tourism, Dr Wykeham McNeill, says Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett was disingenuous when he claimed to have previously revised the island's tourism revenue figures.

"The facts are, the targets for Tourism arrivals and revenue were presented in the Expenditure Budget in April of this year," McNeill said in a statement yesterday. "They were later examined at the Standing Finance Committee and, under pressure, the minister modified the arrival targets but refused to adjust the unrealistic revenue targets. Nothing has been said publicly or privately to me about these targets since then."

The opposition spokesman was responding to Bartlett's claim that a statement McNeill made in Parliament, during his contribution to the Sectoral Debate on Tuesday, was misleading.

"Dr McNeill stated that I had made a projection of an 11.2 per cent growth in gross earnings by the industry for the year," Bartlett said in his statement. "Dr McNeill further urged me to revise this figure because, as he said, it was misleading to the people of Jamaica, the stakeholders in the industry and to those who plan the economy (the Bank of Jamaica, Ministry of Finance)."

He added: "Those statements by Dr McNeill are on official record now, and should be corrected because they lead to confusion in the minds of the public. The figures quoted by Dr McNeill were presented to the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service in October of the previous year and printed in the Estimates of Expenditure. At that time, we projected a 10 per cent growth in stopover arrivals, and earnings at 11.2 per cent."

Mistaken

Bartlett stressed that at the Standing Finance Committee meeting in April, the projection for stopover arrivals was revised to four per cent and earnings to two per cent, in light of the economic downturn, but this was not corrected in the published Estimates of Expenditure.

"These revised figures were presented to the Bank of Jamaica and the Planning Institute of Jamaica. Dr McNeill is aware of that," he said.

But yesterday, McNeill argued that the minister'S claims of revised tourism revenue figures was not reflected anywhere on the public record.

"Even in the minister's sectoral presentation three weeks ago, there was no mention of a revision," he said, suggesting it had taken his call in Parliament this week for Bartlett to state publicly that he was adjusting the revenue figures from 11.2 per cent to two per cent.

"The Opposition notes that it has consistently cautioned the minister against making unrealistic projections as it is important for stakeholders in the industry and planners of the economy to have confidence in the credibility of the tourism figures put out by the ministry," McNeill said.