MONTEGO BAY, St James — Minister of Tourism and Entertainment Dr Wykeham McNeill is lamenting that the gains from the tourism industry, which welcomed over two million stop-over arrivals and about 1.5 million cruise last year, are not being shared among a wide cross section of the population.

“We need to be frank that when you go out to the street and talk to a large number of Jamaicans they express the fact that they do not feel the impact of tourism the way they want to”, Dr McNeill said.

“The gains that we have made in terms of visitor arrivals is only one side of the coin. The Government that I represent, we feel that we should not just measure tourism in terms of the arrivals but you need to measure it in terms of the social and economical impact that it has on the people of Jamaica. And when I say on the people of Jamaica, I’m talking a broad cross section of the people of Jamaica,” he added.

McNeill argued that for the success of the sector, Jamaicans must feel involved.

“For you to have a sustainable tourism sector — as was said in the Tourism Master Plan — the Jamaican people have to feel part of the development of tourism, the plan of tourism and they have to reap the benefits of tourism.”

He was speaking yesterday during the opening ceremony on the first day of the two- day the staging of the sixth Tourism Outlook Seminar (TOS) at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.

The tourism minister expressed that over the two days issue of scattering the gains from the sector to as far and wide as possible and other crucial aspects of tourism, will be discussed among the best experts in the industry gathered in the resort city for the seminar.

“So part of what we have to do here is see how we can spread those benefits of tourism to as wide as possible section of the Jamaican people,” Dr McNeill stated.

Other speakers on the first day of the TOS, held under the theme “Tourism: Enhancing Social and Economical Impact”, were regional director for the Americas, United Nation World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), Carlos Vogeler, Winfield Griffith of Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), Jamaica Hotel and Tourists Association (JHTA) President Nicola Madden Greig, Director of Tourism Paul Pennicook among others.