Crime Hurting Jamaica Tourism

Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett says crime is having an adverse effect on the nation’s tourist industry.

“Crime, in my mind is the single most debilitating factor, the one area that is worrying to me beyond anything else, and I must tell you that the fuel crisis is not as worrying to me as crime. The turmoil in the aviation industry is not as worrying to me as crime,” he said, addressing participants at the recent Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) 47th Annual General Meeting.

The Minister said there was a critical need for the strengthening of the synergies and the partnerships between communities and the tourism industry, in order to “drive a wedge in the monster of crime.”

Meanwhile, President of the JHTA Wayne Cummings echoed similar sentiments and deep concern about the negative effects of crime on the tourist industry.

Meanwhile, Commissioner of Police Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin has highlighted four main areas of crime fighting that should reduce crime, build citizen confidence in the Police, and strengthen the human capacity in the Force.

These include the dismantling of criminal networks, where persons involved in criminal activities are caught and punished; increased policing, which involves cordons and searches; curfews; and community policing, as a means to engage communities, so that their confidence level in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) can be raised.