Warning tourism gatekeepers, Professor Rex Nettleford classified the vices as the greatest threats to the tourism industry.
Professor Nettleford was the featured speaker at the opening of the third annual National Tourism Conference Wednesday, urging Bahamians to take control of the development of the tourism industry.
“As we well know, the hotel, however luxurious, does not an industry make and integration of all the elements which go to make an enjoyable, memorable, worthwhile visit for the visitor is paramount,” he said.
Professor Nettleford is a former Rhodes Scholar and a Vice Chancellor Emeritus at the University of the West Indies, Jamaica. He is also the founder, artistic director and principal choreographer of the internationally-acclaimed National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica and is regarded as the leading Caribbean authority in the performing arts.
To a captive audience, the scholar recommended that tourism officials pursue community tourism, strategic alliances between tourism and agriculture, tourism education, and the development of the creative arts for cultural tourism as ways to boost the industry.
The Central Bank of The Bahamas has projected that economic growth for the Bahamian economy should remain firm for the rest of the year and into 2006 as output is anticipated to be reinforced by ongoing investments in the tourism sector.
According to the Bank’s latest report released at the beginning of the year, between January and September 2005 visitor arrivals to The Bahamas decreased by 3.1% to 3,773,862.
Air visitors, which accounted for 31.4% of the total, rose by 1.7%, while sea arrivals fell by 5.1%. New Providence experienced overall growth of 1.2%, with an 11.8% improvement in the higher value-added air visitor component, and a decline in sea visitors of 4.2%.
The professor’s address was a part of events organized for National Tourism Week under the theme ‘My Bahamas – towards a Common Loftier Goal’
“It is significant, then, that your Ministry of Tourism should settle on a theme like this as if to send signals that despite our heavy dependence on would-be latter day Columbuses, including the architects of globalization the newest agent of world domination, the land – the sun that shines on it, the sand that fringes it and the sea that surrounds it, must belong to Bahamians,” he said.
He also tackled the area of agriculture which some critics have said is not receiving the level of government and private sector support that it should.
Professor Nettleford advocated more investment in agri-business, where there is the potential for tourists to be targeted as major consumers of locally produced vegetables, dairy products and agricultural goods.
On the matter of cultural tourism, Professor Nettleford emphasized the importance of producing arts and crafts for local consumption as a priority, over foreign consumption. He described the type of cultural artifacts produced in a situation where culture is manufactured for foreign consumption as touristic culture.
“Governments, private sector patrons, along with community organizations must be encouraged to invest in excellence rather than in bland mediocrity,” he said.
This means being aware of the temptation to reach for quick commercial profits instead of producing “serious creative and praiseworthy work” that Bahamians can appreciate for themselves.
Source: The Bahama Journal
