Letter of the Day - Two different worlds

THE EDITOR, Sir:

I am a Canadian who has lived and studied in Jamaica for some time. I was, however, not introduced to mass tourism here until a recent trip to Montego Bay, where I attended a Canadian friend's wedding at an all-inclusive resort. I left MoBay thoroughly disturbed by the separatist nature of the industry, the social dynamics it fosters (perpetuating servile relationships between races, classes, and nations), the way it must condition cultural (mis)understandings, and the fact that it has created tremendous barriers for ordinary Jamaicans to access and enjoy the beauty of their own land.

Even my Canadian friends, who had little understanding of the Jamaica beyond the compound, were appalled with how far that Jamaica must be from the gluttonous, fabricated, Americanised culture inside. They repeatedly noted to me how frustrating it must be for workers to live in these two different worlds. The apex of this came when one friend watched two workers endure the daily humiliation and indignity of being searched as they left the resort.

While Jamaica's economy, of course, cannot live without tourism, I desperately hope that the government doesn't continue to overemphasise the development of this notoriously mercurial industry at the expense of other sectors like agriculture (for it is a fragile basket to be throwing all of one's eggs into). I also hope that as the government conducts consultations on its Master Plan for Sustainable Tourism, it takes seriously the professed commitment to use a 'bottom up' planning approach and listens to the concerns of the workers. Because while tourism is undeniably the 'powerful pillar' of Jamaica's economy (in the words of the government), there must be ways for it to provide more dignified and fulfilling employment for the vast majority of those employed in the sector.

I am, etc.,

TONY WEIS

Kingston

E-mail: anthonyweis@hotmail.com

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