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Tourism & Recreational Resources
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 What is the general situation
with these ISSUES?
- Recreational facilities, attractions, accommoda- tions and services
are frequently developed for foreign visitors at the expense of
access and affordability by local residents. Safe and clean public
parks, playfields, beaches, and areas of natural beauty are necessary
in every community.
- Many persons migrate to tourist areas in search of jobs. The
tourism industry, while providing top quality accommodation for
visitors, tends to make little or no provision for its own workers.
The result is expanding squatter communities close to major tourist
areas. The tourist industry makes many demands on the environment,
such as pressure on beaches, the use of resources for craft items,
use of wetlands for facilities and waste disposal, removal of
sea grass beds at swimming beaches and blocking of visual and
public access to the coast.
- There is the growing danger of Jamaica becoming overly dependent
on one sector, which is subject to seasonal fluctuations and uncertainties.
The peak season starts in December and ends in March. In recent
years the tourism industry has been promoting a year round calendar
of activities/events to obtain a more balanced spread of tourist
arrivals to the island and to ensure long term sustainability
of the industry.
- Current policy directions in the National Industrial Policy
address the need to diversify the tourism product to other areas
such as nature, cultural, heritage and health tourism. Heritage
tourism and Eco-tourism can not only expand the tourism year,
but also help to pay for both a National Park and Protected Area
system and restoration of important parts of Jamaica’s cultural
resources
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