On December 3rd, the Jamaica Tourist Board released its Annual Travel Statistics for 2018. As a fan of statistics I couldn't resist but to take a look. The data is more useful when you analyze it together with the Measurement of Visitor Expenditure 2018 released on October 18, 2019. If you are interested in the source for this information it's all found on the Jamaica Tourist Board website and is free to download.
The best thing about the Jamaica Tourist Board's website is that they have Unrestricted Use Images! For all your ReggaeSteem posting needs! https://www.jtbonline.org/downloads/unrestricted-use-images/ You can use these images freely, Crypticat approves 😺
SourceObservations and Opinion
- While Cruise Ship Passengers made up 42.7% of all visitors to Jamaica in 2018, they only accounted for 6% of tourist expenditure.
Cruise passengers don't need hotels, they only have one or two meals off the boat and generally stay near the docks. The closest cruise terminal to Negril is a 75-minute drive away in Montego Bay. Anyone willing to spend 3 hours in a taxi must really want to see the Seven-Mile Beach or Rick's Cafe.
- Tourists spend very little on souvenirs, art, clothing, and goods while in Jamaica only spending a few dollars per day on shopping or 4.6% of their budget.
More marketing could be done to promote Jamaican goods. Most of the advertising is done by the large hotel chains and although they all have giftshops they aren't focused on showcasing Jamaica as a place to buy things. This represents an opportunity for ReggaeSteem. You can exchange JAHM for Jamaican goods at places such as the Irie Gift Shop I hope to see more vendors and local craftspeople soon on ReggaeSteem.
- All-Inclusive tourists and first-time visitors spend far more than repeat visitors who make their own packages.
This is what ReggaeSteem is all about, there are no All-Inclusive chain resorts on the ReggaeSteem Tourism page and JAHM can be used to save you even more cash next time you go to Jamaica. ReggaeSteem wants to make the world fall in love with Jamaica and introduce them to the real Jamaica, all while saving money and having a better time. Eat what you want, when you want to eat it and don't worry about stuffing yourself 3 times a day or binge drinking to get your monies worth (although no one will stop you if this is your idea of a vacation.)
- Non-All-Inclusive, smaller hotels have a much more difficult time filling their rooms than the larger chain hotels.
ReggaeSteem is here to help the smaller businesses. Many of the large chains have huge advertising budgets, they are tied in with other point systems and can operate at a loss. Large resorts often discourage their patrons from leaving the resort and keep as much tourist money out of the local economy as possible. Their guests often don't experience the real Jamaica and most profits go back to American and European shareholders. These properties also put a tremendous strain on local resources.
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There's so much data to analyze, we are going to leave the rest for future parts. Stay Tuned.
Awesome post my friend!
That's the point... the money gotta reach the people,
so people gotta organize, and Jahm definitely helps...
Way to go...
Thanks, watch for more, there is a ton of info out there.
I’ve heard the reason for this is the cruise ships own the shops on the docks. So all the money spent goes back to the parent company. Very smart business, not good for the economy but smart.
Posted using Partiko iOS
Cruise ships are also terrible for the environment. The bigwigs love the docking fees and I'm sure a lot of that tourist cash goes unreported.
A new world full of opportunity. Bringing newmusic, original content, among similar posts we’re seeing to the io, and blending with the old time rasta vibrations, reggaesteem has the potential to serve as a hub for all Caribbean tourism alike.
Looking forward to your future “parts” of this tourism series
Part 1 was worthy of a resteem in my books
As we see more users and growth I'm sure we will see more activity from smaller businesses. Nothing is stopping them from posting about their properties, it's basically free advertising.
This thing you say is very interesting @crypticat. Very well the analysis of the statistical data, for many they are not more than numbers but a well educated mind and knowing where to look for more information to co-relate it with these data without a doubt that can arrive at good conclusions besides establishing better work plans.
I already have another site from which to extract images, without the problem of copyright, however, I always quote the sources, it is the best.
The big consortiums, while it is true that they generate sources of employment, it is also true that they affect the local economy very much by not allowing them to know other parts of the country, to establish more human relations with the locals, since in theory they facilitate everything in a given space. Everything has its pros and cons.
There are definitely pros and cons, but it's much better when there is a vibrant local business community. I don't really like large resorts, maybe for a day pass.
This is a very important and underestimated advantage of opting to use the Jahm rather than the traditional method. It's amazing watching all this unravel. Thanks for bringing this to light and a huge thanks for the Christmas tip, wishing you more blessings and happy new year in advance. Bless
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