The production of the television feature by the renowned travel journalist was a solid endorsement of Jamaica's tourist industry and an affirmation of the island as a premier destination,
A well-kept secret is that we do have a lot of these wonderful (quiet getaways) like the Round Hills and the Golden Eyes that for some reason they had not discovered. And Jamaica is now being featured in more films. The celebrities see that, and are now coming down to try it.
The current falloff in the industry is not a fair way to judge what is likely to happen with the addition of rooms. But, there will have to be an even greater increase in arrivals in order to maintain reasonable occupancy in these hotels.
We are talking about maybe as much as 15 per cent increase in arrivals yearly, and the only way we are going to achieve that, is if we aggressively market, not only the destination, but the hotels themselves.
The last three years the growth out of Europe has been far more in percentage terms than in US and Canada. It may never reach the numbers from the US, but it can certainly grow considerably,
