The fierce competition to attract the attention of the growing Chinese tourist market has begun mercilessly in Latin America, specifically in Argentina and Venezuela. In fact, it is expected that very soon China will surpass Germany and the United States to become the world's largest source of tourists traveling abroad.

Last week the Belize Tourism Board released a report indicating that the country saw a record number of tourist arrivals for the first quarter of 2013, with airport arrivals alone up over 10% for March and an increase of over 13% for all overnight arrivals from January to March this year.

The discussion about increasing and sustaining economic growth in Jamaica must recognize that tourism will be the engine of economic growth in both the short and medium terms. The number of Chinese travellers and the value of their expenditure have been growing rapidly in recent years.