I have been in the tourism industry for the last 30 years. My niche is marketing, a place where I feel most comfortable and challenged.

It is, therefore, with great admiration that I write to acknowledge and commend our minister of tourism, Edmund Bartlett, for the outstanding job he is doing.

Tourism takes a huge amount of dedication, personal time, charm, strategy, energy and networking to accomplish goals. It is an exhausting and constant exercise and one that most do not grasp. To put it all together, one must have all the components in place - the tour operators, the airlines, the accommodation, product on the ground, (airports, luggage handlers, ground transportation) then finally the people of Jamaica who must be interested and willing to give service to those visitors, who have paid good money for the privilege to rest, see the island and have fun. To fail at the end, or in anyone of these components, is to fail to launch the product.

The personal touch

The fact is, it is hard work, a physically demanding job that requires the 'personal touch', work that has to be repeated over and over again, year after year, when one must present a 'new' reason to visit Jamaica. Few appreciate the effort that it takes to constantly ask for business, to convince those in control of the numbers that Jamaica is the place to send their client on holiday because, every year, every month and every week, it is incumbent on the minister to fill those seats, get the 'heads to beds' the 'feet to street', convert the 'lookers to bookers', increasing visitor arrivals so that our country can survive.

It is against this background, therefore, that I would like to thank and commend our minister for the outstanding job he has done and is doing for Jamaica. To thank, too, his team, including John Lynch, a stalwart in tourism and the entire team at the ministry and the JTB.

There is much to be done and, from this writer, it is my privilege to work alongside a minister with the vision and dedication that Bartlett has.

Let's all join in the 'tourism' wagon, each one of us can become the marketing team for Jamaica.

I am, etc.,

JUDY SCHOENBEIN

judy_schoenbein@hotmail.com

Kendal Road,

Mandeville.