Jamaican Tourism Needs New Markets, New Products

Jamaican Tourism Needs New Markets, New Products
The Jamaica Observer

The optimism of Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett and the marketing expertise of Director of Tourism John Lynch have kept Jamaica’s tourism industry afloat in the midst of a global economic storm. They are to be congratulated.

Yet, there is no resting on our laurels. If this most valuable industry is to not merely survive but grow, we believe that it will need new markets and new products.

In 2008, nearly 46 million Chinese travelled abroad and spent $30 billion. These numbers will increase significantly as incomes rise and as the middle-class continues to grow. The middle-class, which in the year 2000 numbered 56 million, is predicted to reach 361 million by 2030.

China is expected to become the world’s fourth largest source of tourists by 2020, generating 100 million outbound tourists each year, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization. The Chinese demand for tropical vacations is yet to be developed. In 2005, some 71 per cent of all outbound travel from the Chinese mainland was to Hong Kong and Macau; a further 17 per cent travelled within Asia and five per cent went to Europe.

Everybody in Jamaica recognized the potential for tapping into the Chinese market when Mr. Usain Bolt and other Jamaican athletes dominated track events at the Olympics in Beijing. With diplomatic relations dating back to the early 1970s, we are China’s most important “friend” in the Caribbean and have been designated “approved destination status”. These are advantages, but a lot more has to been done to break into the tourism market in China and establish Jamaica as a desirable destination. Products and marketing programs have to be specifically designed and mounted to entice tourists from China to these destinations.

At present, Chinese visitor arrivals are extremely small, amounting to only 976 of total visitor arrivals of 1,678,905 in 2006. Of that 976, most or 55 per cent stayed in private homes, suggesting that these were mostly families visiting.

Increasing Chinese tourist arrivals to the Caribbean should be possible since over 50,000 Japanese tourists a year travel to the region, covering a distance and time of travel similar to that faced by potential Chinese tourists. This is without direct flights, little marketing presence and competition from Hawaii.

The gigantic Chinese market can be developed with improved air links and specialized promotion. Even a small share would have a substantial economic and cultural impact.

One of the new products to which Jamaica has given insufficient attention is sports tourism. This is not merely employing world-renowned athletes in advertisements for Jamaica’s tourism. Sports tourism is the systematic promotion of sports events in Jamaica.

Cricket World Cup is an example of an internationally marketed sports event. The flood of British tourists to cricket Test matches in Barbados is an example of the potential. Some events, notably Boys’ and Girls’ Champs, have attracted overseas visitors vicariously without any serious marketing effort.

The promotion of sports tourism in Jamaica needs a well-organized campaign, sustained over some years, including advertisements on international sports television channels, in magazines, newspapers, and with special charter flights. In addition, sports tourism needs to expand its range of activities beyond track meets and Test cricket, tapping into international travel based around bird watching and hosting of major golf tournaments, as we did with the Johnnie Walker World Championship more than 18 years ago.