COVID-19 Is Costing The Tourism Industry

COVID-19 is costing Tourism Industry- The recently re-appointed minster of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says COVID-19 is costing the industry. He adds that he is working to resettle the tourism industry. This is after a major loss in revenue due to the impact of the pandemic. “We’ve lost something like fifty-three billion, or thereabout,” he said during an interview with CVM at Sunrise, this morning.

The Minister explained that he will speak with the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) this Friday, where he plans to outline the full performance of the Tourism Industry, including its profit and losses.

He also stated that the industry was not the major cause of the spike in the COVID-19 cases. He said the cases are, however, due to a lack of compliance from Jamaican citizens. “The incidents of the spread became in my mind, difficult because of a lack of local activity, and a lack of Jamaicans who came back; and who didn’t observe sufficiently the protocols and ended up going into communities when they shouldn’t and causing much of the spread that is taken place.”

He says that they are monitoring all the high risk areas overseas, to determine which visitors will be tested, upon their arrival to Jamaica. Some of the areas he listed were the United States, focusing particularly on states such as New York, Florida, and Arizona, as well as other countries such as Mexico.