MONTEGO BAY, St James — Taleb Rifai yesterday urged the tourism sector to do more to improve the lives of people living in communities where hotels are built.

Riafi, the secretary general of the United Nations World Tourism Organization, made the call on day two of the three-day Global Tourism Conference at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.

“With regard to community empowerment and internal agenda, we need definitely to lower the walls between visitors and the community. We cannot continue to build five-star hotels in three-star communities. We have ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen: that’s a very important message we need to keep in mind,” Rifai stated.

However, Prime Minister Andrew Holness, in his keynote address to the conference, stated that the Government he leads is paying attention to local infrastructure that will help Jamaicans benefit from tourism.

“The truth is, when we allow local life to be better for the citizens they create the product, the experience; they create the authenticity that brings the visitors. And so our strategy of redevelopment is not just to focus on tourism infrastructure, but to make life different for the citizens and that will bring the authentic product,” Holness said.

In the meantime, Rifai stated that it was no longer acceptable to “allow our visitors to live in bubbles”.

“We cannot continue to promote modern-day plantations in our own countries called exclusive resorts. That is not the model we are looking for at all. We need to address these issues with great courage and great conviction, because it’s all about people at the end of the day, and we need to move very bravely and courageously on that front,” he said.