Business heads to hold candidates accountable

Business Leaders who have put Government on notice that they want greater accountability in governance, has taken concrete steps toward securing action from the politicians.

The Gleaner has learned that a meeting of Chamber of Commerce heads and business leader held recently in Ocho Rios, emerged with consensus that candidates in the upcoming election should be made to sign a covenant with their constituents, agreeing to address the more serious problems shortly after they are elected.

The resolution will be sent to all the political parties for their endorsement.

The various Chambers are currently working on the wording of the document, which will be sent to the general secretaries of the political parties.

It calls for all candidates throughout the 60 constituencies to sign off on a document, prepared by their local Chamber of Commerce, pledging to deal with the two most critical issues affecting their constituency, in a period not exceeding 100 days.

The issues, depending on the area, could be anything from crime, bad roads, water, tourism, electricity or telephone service.

“What we are looking for is accountability from our politicians,” said Joey Issa, author of the resolution and executive vice president of the SuperClubs chain of hotels.

“Too often we see candidates getting elected and pretty much disappearing from the scene soon after. We are hoping to change this unfortunate trend by putting them on the spot for a change,” said Mr. Issa.

“We are not trying to intimidate or ambush anybody, what we are saying is that our political representatives must be held accountable by the people in their constituency.”

President of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) Anthony Chang agreed. According to him, “This is an excellent idea which my organization has no problem embracing,” he said.

“I am also confident the political parties will view this proposal as something positive.”

Donovon Cover, president of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce said his organization was all for accountability and adds that voters would be looking keenly to see whom, if anybody would refrain from signing off on the document.

Cruise shipping row brewing: Amid reports of possible head tax reduction in MoBay

Western Bureau:

Another row is brewing in the tourist industry amid reports of possible reduction in the head tax for cruise ship passengers arriving in Montego Bay.

The reduction is being pushed by Montego Bay cruise shipping players who, for the past three years, have seen a steady decline in the number of cruise vessels arriving in the city.

They have argued that a lowering of the head tax would encourage cruise line officials to have their vessels make more calls in Montego Bay, and more importantly, according to them, not having the resort city dropped as a port of call.

The head tax charged to passengers arriving in Montego Bay, Ocho Rios and Port Antonio stands at US$15.

Official Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) figures, however, show that Ocho Rios enjoys the lion’s share of the market.

During the period 1997-1999, of the 2.1 million cruise passengers that visited Jamaica, 76.8 per cent or 1.6 million went to Ocho Rios. Only 461,944 went to Montego Bay. Port Antonio, a much smaller port, has seen only three cruise ships over the pat three years and was not factored into the equation.

The government has acknowledged talks on a lower head tax for Port Antonio but denies that a decision has already been taken on Montego Bay.

Minister of State in the Ministry of Tourism, Wykeham McNeill, said that the government was not planning on doing anything that would be harmful to any particular port.

“There are ongoing discussions to lower the head tax in Port Antonio and this has triggered speculation about Montego Bay,” he said.

“If the tax were to be lowered in the Second City, it would involve careful consultation with all the players in the industry,” he added.

President of the Montego Bay Cruise Council, Lee Bailey, said that he was aware of the proposal to lower the head tax for passengers arriving at the city’s ports and would consider it a good move.

Ocho Rios was saturated with cruise vessels, he said, while other ports were not enjoying what he called “some of the special concessions that are in place”.

Mr. Bailey said that a lowering in the head tax in Montego Bay would in no way undermine Ocho Rios’ status as the cruise shipping capital of Jamaica and noted that fears being expressed to the contrary, are extremely premature.

“The proposal is not for ships to leave Ocho Rios,” he added. “It is to ensure that the whole industry profits.”

Former president of the St. Ann Chamber of Commerce, Joey Issa, who tree years ago was in the heart of a tussle with his Montego Bay counterpart at the time, Lloyd B. Smith, over a proposed head tax reduction for the second city, reiterated his earlier position in stating that any reduction of the cruise tax should be done across the board.

“In terms of equity and fairness, the head tax that is charged to passengers arriving in the island should be consistent at all the ports of entry,” Mr. Issa said. “As I have stated before, we have to be careful about trying to appease one sector at the expense of another. Before anything is done, there should be clarification on the matter.”

We empathize with our American partners

The island’s two major hotel chains, SuperClubs and Sandals, with nearly 70 per cent of their business being generated from the United States, have been hard hit by the terrorist attacks on two American cities.

The repercussions being felt by the two hotel giants have jolted their operations where they have now being forced to make radical changes to their operations, including the rotation of staff and the bonding of moguls John Issa and ‘Butch’ Stewart.

But according to representatives of both tourism entities, empathizing with their American partners were now foremost on their minds. They spoke of the relationship they have with United States and the importance of this relationship to Jamaica’s tourism.

“Seventy five per cent of our business come directly from the United States,” explained Leo Lambert, Group Public Relations Officer for Sandals. “As our American friends struggle to regroup, this is a very difficult period for all of us in the sector.” He added that Sandals was now making a concerted effort to pamper all their guests to how then that “in this difficult time we too share their pains and concerns.”

Mr. Lambert notes that now was the time for the Caribbean to come together as a region to strategize way to effectively deal with the massive downturn in tourism. “We have to pull through this together,” he said. “We have to convince Americans that we are the destination of choice during this difficult time – that we are a place to come and relax and try to relieve their stress. With our close proximity to the United States, we have a golden opportunity to salvage our season.”

Executive Vice President of SuperClubs, Joey Issa, said that as airline travel in the United State continues to decline, the effects were being felt “like thunderclaps throughout the sector.” Like hi competitors at Sandals, he notes that SuperClubs was feeling a lot of empathy for the people of the United States at this time, adding that his country has had a long lasting relationship with that country.

“This is a very difficult period for all of us locally but even more so for our American counterparts,” he said. “As America brace for war nobody knows what the future will bring. Whatever game plan we had going into the winter tourist season has to now be radically changed as we enter this grave period of uncertainty.”

The Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) is also firmly in solidarity with the country’s “American partners” despite the grave period where a number of their hotels are on the brink of closure. According to President, Josef Forstmayer, the JHTA has been working round the clock to find ways to get through the current crisis facing the sector but was optimistic that the winter season could be saved.

Picture caption: “This is a very difficult period for all of us locally but even more so for our American counterparts” –Joe Issa (pictured) Executive Vice-President of SuperClubs