PRESIDENT of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) Wayne Cummings has called on the Government to reintroduce the tax incentive for hotels granted under the Tourism Improvement Refurbishing Programme (TIRP), but which was suspended last August following a decision to review the overall granting of tax waivers and incentives.

“I would like to encourage the Government to quickly put that back on the table because when we met with the tourism minister and the finance minister we were promised that this is a temporary situation while they did their reviews,” Cummings said.

The TIRP — a joint initiative by the finance and tourism ministries — was introduced to enable the refurbishing of products which fell outside of the Tourism Incentive Act.

The JHTA head, who was addressing a press conference at the Spanish Court Hotel in Kingston this week, to launch the association’s 50th anniversary celebrations, said it has been very costly for hotels and attraction owners to be continuously upgrading their product.

“It is very costly to ensure you are always reinvesting and handling the cash flow challenges you have,” Cummings said. The sector, he added, was awaiting the roll-out of the refurbishing incentive, which was initially introduced by the tourism minister.

“The case has been well made that this industry affects the entire country and having quality bedrooms and products ensures the highest rates and also ensures we get the best brand recognition,” he said.

Cummings, at the same time, said the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) was challenged to market the destination on the limited budget it has been allocated.

“Over the last couple of years the budgets have been cut and this year they are looking at a budget of US$17 million and for the most part that is administration cost,” he lamented.

Cummings said the Government must be cognisant of the fact that the JTB will not be able to effectively market the various distinct features of the destination if it does not have the resources.

“Our government needs to recognise that if they do not get the kind of budget allocation they will not be able to diversify and talk about Kingston and the charms of the south coast and the special elements of Port Antonio,” he said.

Commenting on the state-of-the-art Montego Bay Convention Centre, which was opened earlier this year in time for the hosting of Caribbean Marketplace, Cummings said the marketing plan for the facility is late in its roll-out as the ground work is just now being laid.

“A manager has been appointed for the centre and they are doing some interviews to build out their staffing, but they are behind the curve as they are a little late in getting a marketing plan out there,” Cummings said.

He, however, expressed satisfaction with the facility and its potential for the tourism sector.

The JHTA head also said the tourism sector has had one of the most successful winter tourist seasons, which was made possible by several factors.

Among them, according to Cummings, were brands which represented the destination well, as well as some of the markets experiencing one of the worst winters in recent history. He also attributed the season’s success to the JTB, which has been effective in marketing the destination.

He, however, noted that although it was a very good season there were some hotels which did not have 100 per cent occupancy.

“Jamaica has diversity of rooms appealing to every demographic of travellers… and every single bedroom is an important bedroom within the 30,000,” he said.

“Whether a group of tour operators in their negotiations and contracting had challenges finding rooms, that will happen no matter what, so it is our job to make sure we get the word out as to the rooms that are available,” he added.

He noted, further, that a number of the rooms that have brand recognition would probably record higher occupancy and as such, ways must be found to help the smaller hotels which do not have as much brand power to get the word out.