AT a time when just about everything looks bleak on the economic front, Jamaica’s tourist industry continues to be a shining star. Today marks the beginning of the 2009-2010 Winter Tourist Season and from all indications, based on early projections, it will be a very good season.

Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett has much to smile about because, despite the many challenges facing the sector, both nationally and internationally, even his worst detractors must concur that Jamaica is still in the winner’s circle in more ways than one with respect to that vital industry that has overtaken bauxite and remittances to become the island’s number one foreign exchange earner.

Noting that the country was able to secure over a million seats, Minister Bartlett said he and his team were looking into a winter season with greater hope and anticipation than last year. Many people, inside and outside the industry, often chastise Minister Bartlett for his unreserved optimism. There are even those who feel that he sometimes takes on an over-exaggerated position that may well take him outside the realms of reality, but when all is said and done, the proof of the pudding must be in the eating, and from all indications a delectable feast is in the making.

One hopes, however, that concomitant with this positive trend in the marketplace, the benefits from tourism will become more and more visible and easily felt. For too long, tourism figures have been bandied about painting a highly profitable picture for the major players while the environment in which these properties operate in many instances does not reflect the growth and prosperity publicised. In this regard, the input of the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) and the Tourism Product Development Company needs to be put on display on a timely basis so that John Public can be sufficiently convinced that in the final analysis, tourism is also their business.

Notwithstanding the positive signs on the horizon, much work needs to be done on the tourism product. Montego Bay, which is the tourist mecca, still lacks a signature attraction and the beautification and clean-up efforts have been too sporadic and slipshod, thus leaving the resort city for the most part in a most unattractive state. Yes, resources are limited to tackle all the projects that have been on the drawing board, but with well-structured private-sector partnership the government can set about to achieve a number of worthwhile objectives.

When all is said and done, outside of Dunn’s River Falls, perhaps the major reason Ocho Rios remains such a preferred cruise-ship destination, the rest of the country, though not lacking in a number of attractions, is still lagging behind. There ought to be a wider range of attractions as well as shopping options so as to ensure that visitors spend more money when they land on our shores for the sun, sea and sand.

Of course, our tourism industry, though sustainable enough to withstand the troughs and ride the peaks, can be subject to the vagaries of worldwide misfortunes such as those that can continue to plague the airline industry. British Airways, for example – that Jamaica Tourist Board Chairman and Director of Tourism John Lynch recently pointed to as giving Jamaica the possibility of connection out of Europe – is now facing the likelihood of a Christmas strike that could disrupt one million travellers. In the meantime, the future of Air Jamaica hangs in the balance, even as it remains an albatross around the neck of every Jamaican taxpayer.

As the season kicks off, every effort must be made to include the small players such as craft and curio vendors in the scheme of things. Quite often, there remains a feeling among the average Jamaican small business person that tourism is only for the big players. This ought not to be so, and in that context a greater look must be taken at the areas that surround our hotel properties, many of which are “capture lands” populated by squatters who frequently harbour criminal elements. One hopes that in the new year, the promise made by the Bruce Golding administration about using some funds from the TEF to upgrade squatter settlements will become a reality. The money is already there so there should be no excuse coming from Water and Housing Minister Dr Horace Chang.

In evaluating the economy for this year, it is only fair that if one is looking for a winner then that would be tourism, and against that background it would also be fair to name Minister Ed Bartlett as the Number 1 Performer in the Golding Cabinet for 2009. Kudos to him. Such an accolade is well deserved because he has been a visionary and consummate marketer who refuses to allow the negatives to block his path towards progress and prosperity. Clearly, tourism has triumphed amidst all the odds and the Minister and his hardworking team should take a bow.

lloydbsmith@hotmail.com