JAMAICA Labour Party spokesman on tourism, Ed Bartlett has predicted massive layoffs and bankruptcies in the travel industry as a result of Tuesday’s terrorist attack on the United States.

According to the JLP deputy leader, visitors may now opt to stay home for vacations, while instead of visiting the island, Jamaicans living abroad will “make greater use of electronic modes of communication with family members”.

Bartlett said that the devastation caused and the fear generated by the attack would deal a severe blow to the island’s already ravaged tourism industry, which relies heavily on the US market, which provides about 70 of the island’s visitors.

He said the JLP would continue to work with the tourism community — both locally and overseas — to preserve the island’s major income earning sector that provides employment for thousands of workers.

The JLP tourism spokesman expressed sympathies to the American people, particularly Jamaicans affected by Tuesday’s horror.