Not funny.
"Tourists bypass new Jamaican port town; Locals expected bigger economic boost from ships" by David McFadden |
Associated Press, October 14, 2012
FALMOUTH, Jamaica — Jamaica’s port authority and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. pitched the
$220 million port as a place where passengers would dive into the
historic city, but since the industry’s biggest ships started arriving early last
year that warmth and those dollars have been kept at a distance.
‘‘We were promised that we’d be able to show people our Jamaican
heritage, sell our crafts. But most of the tourists stay far away from
the local people,’’ said Asburga Harwood, an independent tour guide and
community historian. ‘‘We’re on the losing end.’’
Trade groups say the flourishing cruise ship industry injects about
$2 billion a year into the economies of the Caribbean, the world’s
number one cruise destination. But critics complain it produces
relatively little local revenue because so many passengers dine, shop,
and purchase heavily marked-up shore excursions on the boats or splurge
at international chain shops on the piers.
The World Bank said in a 2011 report on Jamaica that as much as 80
percent of tourism earnings do not stay in the Caribbean region, one of
the highest ‘‘leakage’’ rates in the world....
The criticism isn’t confined to Jamaica. Some Caribbean ports are
even designed to prevent interaction with the surrounding communities.
In Haiti, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation, tourists step off
Royal Caribbean ships to visit the fenced-in beach attraction Labadee on
the country’s north coast. The visitors are prohibited from leaving the
cruise line’s property, which features white-sand beaches and one of
the longest zip lines in the world....
So no one stays at the hotel?
--more--"
