THE EDITOR, Madam:
I COULD not read the news item under the caption of 'Tourism warning' attributed to Senator Brian Wallace without responding with this letter. The Senator has acknowledged that there has been a steady decline in the hotels' occupancy rate for several years now. I think the question he should be asking is why? The answer has to do with the fact that crime or the perception that crime has become endemic to Jamaica.
This perception was not there in the past, but it seems to have taken root not only in the groups that supply the foreign tourist, but also in the wider overseas Jamaican communities. Perception is reality, and would-be visitors can't help but be terrified at the very thought that tourists, returnees and other visitors are regularly targeted to be robbed and murdered.
The unfortunate thing is this; that the country's leadership is totally unaware or doesn't give a hoot of how Jamaica is now currently looked at from abroad. It is my belief that this perception will intensify until the Government, the churches, other leaders and caring citizens decide to reverse that image. But it is the responsibility of the Government of the day to take the lead whether by policy and legislative action, so as to show the rest of the world that Jamaica will no longer allow herself to be synonymous with crime.
The future of Jamaica's economy is at stake. What does Senator Wallace and others in the nation's Parliament plan to do to change this current perception?
I am etc.,
BAROSA
E-mail:
barrantm@hotmail.com
2 Lockerbie Ave
Toronto, Ontario
Canada
Via Go-Jamaica
