There’s no one in the travel industry in the Caribbean who would not readily admit that 2010 was a most difficult year, despite the fact that globally international tourism continues to recover from a four per cent decline in 2009 triggered by the worldwide economic recession.

Indeed, data provided by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) have shown that for the first eight months of last year, the Caribbean experienced a lower rate of growth in tourist arrivals — three per cent — compared with other destinations, which ranged from seven per cent in South America to a high of 16 per cent in the Middle East.

The UNWTO, in its latest report, said that its first estimates for this year “point to an increase in international tourist arrivals worldwide in the range of four per cent to five per cent”.

That, of course, is encouraging news, especially for Jamaica which, according to Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett, recorded a 4.7 per cent increase in stopover visitor arrivals last year.

Although Mr Bartlett admitted that the figure was a provisional estimate, our experience is that there is always very little variance, if any, in the final statistic.

This 4.7 per cent growth in stopover visitor arrivals squares with Mr Bartlett’s projection of four per cent, revised from his earlier six per cent, after the West Kingston disturbances in May last year.

That Jamaica was able to record this level of performance is due in great measure to the efforts of the tourism ministry, the Jamaica Tourist Board, the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association, the major resort chains and, of course, the island’s influential overseas partners, particularly travel agents and tour operators who have remained loyal to the country.

Based on the global performance of the industry last year, there’s no doubting tourism’s dynamism and its ability to rebound more quickly than most other sectors.

It is against that background that we encourage our Government to heed the call of the UNWTO secretary general, Mr Taleb Rifai, to give greater focus to tourism. For as Mr Rifai so correctly stated at the recent World Travel Market in London, tourism “can contribute to our common objectives of sustaining recovery, regaining jobs and promoting sustainable development”.

In that address, Mr Rifai also pointed to an issue which is of great concern to us — the temptation to impose further taxes on travel.

“These impediments,” he said, “seriously affect our capacity to generate jobs and stimulate economic growth, namely through export earnings that are crucial to a stable economic recovery.”

The Jamaican Cabinet needs to bear that in mind when it is presented with the ridiculous proposal for a doubling of the US$10 head tax on land-based visitors.

In fact, if the Government was minded to ensure that tourism continues to create jobs and earn the country more badly needed foreign exchange it would have rejected the proposal the moment it was raised.

In case the Cabinet was asleep when the JHTA president, Mr Wayne Cummings, first commented on the issue, we’ll again highlight his concern that a doubling of the tax will not only make it more expensive for stopover visitors, but will render Jamaica less competitive.

And just in case the Cabinet is not aware, Jamaica is not the only tourist destination in the world.