Paul A. Reid, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
MINISTER OF Tourism and Industry, Aloun N'Dombet Assamba, believes Jamaica's tourism players have some work to do to dispel the perception that "we are (only) an expensive all-inclusive destination."
She said they need to start spreading the word that the island offers a "diversity of products, at a range of prices, catering to a variety of tastes."
Mrs. Assamba was addressing Saturday's session of the annual general meeting of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association at the Wyndham Rose Hall Resort in Montego Bay.
The Tourism Minister said that while Jamaica got its fair share of Caribbean nationals visiting the island for business and other purposes, more needed to be done to tap into the lucrative regional market.
After the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001 and the war in Iraq, Jamaica was well placed to benefit from the expected resumption of leisure travel, she said. However, she warned: "We cannot sit back and wait to take bookings, we have to be pro-active."
She cited Grenada, that has seen about a 25 per cent growth in their Caribbean market bookings.
LURING BUSINESS TRAVELLERS
Kingston, she said, was enjoying a steady flow of corporate visitors and with the expansion of regional entities the rate was expected to grow. The job now, she said, was to convert the business to leisure travel and tap more deeply into the Caribbean holiday market. She said the African American and local markets were also crucial in the growth of the industry.
The task for the coming year, said Mrs. Assamba, was to grow the increase arrivals in the country and to "improve the quality and diversity of our product."
Mrs. Assamba said that even if it meant retraining hotel staff to sensitise them to the awareness of nuances, cultural and social sensitivities, "we must ensure that we offer consistent, top-quality service to all our visitors, whatever their nationality."
