Jamaican Government Finally Recognizing The Consequences Of Tourist Harassment On Small Businesses And The Economy Overall

Recently we report­ed on a trend which is hap­pen­ing in the Tourism sec­tor in Jamaica.
Many pas­sen­ger sim­ply stay on boat when they dock in Jamaica.
This noth­ing new. I have seen tourist harass­ment up close and per­son­al as a young police offi­cer who spent count­less hours bat­tling that scourge.
The issue of harass­ment can­not be con­fused with ven­dors polite­ly offer­ing their wares for sale in a non-threat­en­ing or aggres­sive manner.
For the most past that can­not be said of the sit­u­a­tion vis­i­tors face when they enter our shores.
I recount an inci­dent relat­ed to me by a female police offi­cer in my city here in the United States. She and her hus­band nar­row­ly escaped death by ven­dors in Montego Bay, thank­ful­ly they were res­cued by oth­er ven­dors. Their crime ? Daring to turn down an aggres­sive man who offered unwant­ed wares.

Tourism Minister Dr Wykeham McNeill is report­ed as telling del­e­gates attend­ing the sixth Biennial Diaspora Conference in Montego Bay yes­ter­day that cruise vis­i­tors are shy­ing away from get­ting off their ships when they get here because they are being harassed. The upshot, Dr McNeill point­ed out, is that the prob­lem is pre­vent­ing small busi­ness oper­a­tors from earn­ing from tourism. According to the Jamaica Observer.

I’m unsure about the upshot, as Dr, McNeil sees it but we have report­ed on this very issue time and again point­ing to the loss to legit­i­mate busi­ness­es and the econ­o­my in general.
The truth is that even as Dr. McNeil points to this age old prob­lem, his Administration is allow­ing it to hap­pen. Not only have they allowed it to hap­pen in Tourism towns, they allow hig­glers and hus­tlers to sell wares in front of stores all across down-town Kingston and oth­er major cities across the Island. Business own­ers com­plain to their own detri­ment, they are either killed or wake up to smol­der­ing ruins the next day.
This is the luna­cy which has per­me­at­ed our coun­try. Yet as a friend told me on the phone from Jamaica recent­ly it does not mat­ter what the PNP does to Jamaicans , Jamaica is PNP Country and the peo­ple will return them to power.
My friend laugh­ing­ly told me nev­er­the­less ” if yu cut mi, mi bleed orange blood”.
My friend a rather intel­li­gent man under­stands the dynam­ics of the sit­u­a­tion, he is more resigned to the real­i­ties on the ground than he is a dyed-in-the wool-comrade.

McNeil believes that both polit­i­cal par­ties should con­sid­er it their duty to repeat­ed­ly remind their base of the dam­age that tourist harass­ment does to Jamaica. This age old prob­lem will not be fixed one bit by beg­ging peo­ple not to. In the same way we can­not beg dan­ger­ous crim­i­nals to refrain from com­mit­ting crimes , we can in no way expect hun­gry broke peo­ple to stop ped­dling their wares.
As I have said repeat­ed­ly, the prob­lems fac­ing the Jamaican peo­ple will not be fixed by this Administration. The meth­ods which are need­ed to effec­tive­ly turn around the mind­set of Jamaicans are not part of the strate­gies of the PNP.
The PNP does not aggra­vate voters.
They win elec­tions by mak­ing promis­es that effec­tive­ly any­thing goes, all one has to do is run ‑wid ‑it [sic]