Bartlett rolls the dice on casinos
OPPOSITION spokesman on tourism, Edmund Bartlett has reiterated his support for the introduction of casinos to Jamaica, arguing that it would add value and increase the per capita expenditure of tourists to the island.
At the same time, he argued that “the problem of corruption” has the potential to nullify any benefits that might flow from such a move.
Added Bartlett: “The country needs to examine whether or not the confidence exists in the present leadership to bring certain types of additions to the tourism product of Jamaica that give strong economic returns, while also safeguarding the social order.”
While making it clear that he was speaking for himself and not for the Jamaica Labour Party, of which he is a deputy leader, Bartlett urged Jamaicans not to “close” their minds to other attractions that can bring strong revenue inflows.
He was addressing Wednesday’s quarterly luncheon of the Jamaica Institute of Management (JIM).
After his presentation, Bartlett told the Observer that the official position of the JLP on casino gambling had not changed since the 1980s when the party used a Stone poll “to get a feel for the public’s opinion”. He said that the poll showed 55 per cent support for, and 45 per cent against casino gambling but that “the JLP felt that the difference was too close and that the issue too divisive to consider going ahead with casino gambling”.
Earlier in his address to the JIM luncheon, Bartlett said he was in agreement with the recent private sector/government summit’s report that identified tourism as the main catalyst for growth.
But said he: “We have been hearing this ad nauseam for too long. In addition, he argued that although tourism had proven itself to be the only local industry that enjoys comparative and competitive advantage, the Government was still not treating it as the export industry that it is.
The JLP’s tourism spokesman also said that inputs of production for tourism must attract the same tax concessions and incentives as other exporters. He used the example of champagne as a case in point, arguing that “because no concessions are offered to the tourist industry, visitors to Jamaica end up paying up to three times more for a bottle of champagne than it would cost them in competing destinations”.
In response to Bartlett’s statement, Horace Peterkin, second vice-president of the Jamaica Hotel & Tourist Association (JHTA), told the Observer that his association had long been calling for tourism to be treated like other export industries such as coffee and bananas “because the only difference is that we are bringing the customers to Jamaica instead of sending our product out of the country.”
He added that the types of duty and tax incentives enjoyed by other exporters should be extended to tourism in order to strengthen the industry’s competitiveness.