President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association JHTA Clifton Reader is calling on the government to extend further the SET and BEST cash grants, to provide desperately needed income assistance to thousands of tourism workers who are either out of jobs or working only a few hours a week.
According to the JHTA, the COVID 19 pandemic wreaked havoc with Jamaica’s tourism industry last year and the hoped-for rebound in the first quarter of this year will not materialize.
However, the association says it’s determined to hold tourism together, with more help from the government and the banking sector.
Several hotels have closed their doors due to reduced inflows of guests and low forward bookings due to the cancellation of flights to Jamaica from Canada and the United Kingdom as well as other border closures.
Mr. Reader, says the diminished arrival numbers from the UK and Canada, two of Jamaica’s main markets, has had a crippling effect on businesses and it is because of a deep commitment and confidence in brand Jamaica that hotel operators are valiantly striving to weather the many storms of COVID19.
The president states that tourism businesses remain in a precarious financial position and they are in discussions with their banks to help them weather this continuing economic storm.
He adds that many of these businesses are already showing signs of potential permanent closures. The JHTA says it urgently needs the government’s help in negotiating a comprehensive capital markets solution for the industry that will offer those businesses in need of liquidity a well needed financial bridge.
Pointing to a January 2021 JHTA survey among its member properties, Mr. Reader says that approximately 47 percent of rooms in the hotels surveyed across the island have been closed since last year as a casualty of the pandemic.
Noting that Jamaica will receive its first batch of the COVID 19 vaccine this month, Mr. Reader says the association expects that with vaccination programmes underway in the major source markets and soon to begin in Jamaica, the tourism industry is poised to begin its recovery in the next several months.
He adds that between now and then, the economic challenges the industry faces remain dire; and all stakeholders, public and private must remain committed to keeping the industry and particularly its workers afloat.