Recent data provided by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) strengthens the public perception that tourism has the potential to carry the Jamaican economy to great heights.

Indeed, the sky would be the limit, but for crime.

We hear that for the October to December period of 2022, just preceding the annual, traditionally bountiful winter season, the tourism-related ‘Hotels and Restaurants’ subgroup grew by an estimated 23.4 per cent.

Total stopover visitor arrivals for October to November 2022 increased by 43.8 per cent, relative to the same period in 2021.

In the cruise ship subsector — literally brought to a halt at the height of the novel coronavirus pandemic — passenger arrivals for October and November amounted to 195,135 from 68 ship calls, relative to 32,719 from 24 ship calls during the corresponding period in 2021.

In line with projections from elsewhere, the PIOJ is expecting economic growth of three to five per cent for the January to March 2023 quarter — driven by continued “strong performances” in tourism. Preliminary figures on airport arrivals for January 2023 are said to have shown growth of 63.8 per cent.

Tourism resurgence in the wider Caribbean has also been impressive as the threat posed by the novel coronavirus pandemic recedes.

Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) President Mrs Nicola Madden-Greig tells us that, while inbound tourist arrivals across the globe for September 2022 were 31 per cent lower than 2019, “the Caribbean by itself recorded” a three per cent increase in the third quarter of the calendar year.

Yet challenges — some lingering from the pandemic and others connected to such issues as the very damaging Russia-Ukraine war — remain.

Inadequate air connectivity, prohibitive cost of air travel, lack of investment in infrastructure and human capital, and vulnerability to shocks and environmental crises also pose threats.

As always in tourism, Jamaica and its neighbours must be quick to pivot to take advantage of market changes such as a seemingly growing tendency for Afro-Americans with disposable income to travel for leisure and pleasure. That’s outside of the Diaspora, who we all know come home in droves for vacation.

“They [black American visitors] say they feel like human beings when they come here based on how they are treated. There is no discrimination. And they pointed out that they don’t feel harassed at all. It’s like they feel a sense of ‘smaddiness’ (important, worthy, belonging) when they come here,” Tourism Minister Mr Edmund Bartlett told the Business Observer.

That’s music to the ears of older Jamaicans who remember a time when black visitors complained of feeling like second-class guests at our hotels and resorts.

Mr Anthony Hewie, general manager of Margaritaville Ocho Rios, says that “Previously, we used to see nearly 60 per cent to 70 per cent of our guests being white North Americans… However, since we reopened after the COVID lock down, it is almost 50-50 between white and black Americans. Sometimes we have more African-American guests than their Caucasian countrymen and women…”

The broad, unmistakable message is that Jamaicans should always be at pains to nurture, protect, and promote our life-giving visitor industry so all our guests feel welcome.