Perception of violence hurting Jamaica's tourism product - Holness

 

Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness says the perception of violence in Jamaica is hurting the country's tourism product. 

 

He is urging Jamaicans to seek peaceful resolutions to conflict after a survey to gauge the perception of the country's global image and reputation showed that the country was underperforming. 

 

"We have actually done a study of brand Jamaica, and we asked people, will you come to live in Jamaica, do business in Jamaica, study in Jamaica? And we compared Jamaica with three other countries that we consider our peers. And in all of those studies, except for would you come to vacation in Jamaica, we underperformed relative to other countries. That means that violence has reduced the level of visitorship that we could have in our country," he pointed out.

 

Emphasizing the large sums that both individuals and the government have spent on ensuring safety and security, the Prime Minister and Jamaica Labour Party leader said the country stands to gain greatly when peace is achieved.

 

"I want you to appreciate that right now, we are at about four million visitors. We could easily be at five million, six million, seven million visitors as countries like the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic. Once we solve this issue of crime and violence, and we reclaim Jamaica as a peaceful country in the minds of people in the world, we will start to have people coming not only to enjoy all our beaches in all-inclusives, but they will come to enjoy your community."

 

Dr. Holness was addressing a workers award ceremony in the St. Mary Western to constituency on Wednesday.