Garth Rattray | What about us?

Many years ago, my wife and I used to spend occasional weekends at various local hotels. Sometimes we were treated like freeloading mendicants. Once, our booked Montego Bay room was given away to American kids on spring break (despite timely and proper confirmation). A popular hotel in Port Antonio (that we visited with some regularity) totally ignored us when we recorded a large rat biting into the plastic containing our bread and then eating it. And another hotel room that we booked in Montego Bay was flooded, yet the owner refused to call the manager to deal with our predicament.

On every occasion, we had to leave and return to Kingston. I reported all the problems that we encountered to the tourist board of the day … to absolutely no avail. As Jamaicans, our concerns were totally ignored. We genuinely felt as if hotels only tolerated us because we had a lawful right to stay there. We felt like second-class citizens in our own country.

Although the feedback from acquaintances and friends suggest that hoteliers have wised up and are facilitating ‘staycationing’ and revelling Jamaicans (in the interest of their own prosperity), the powers that be have yet to come to the realisation that the respect, protection, care and effort being put into the visitors that support our economy also need to be put into our citizens.

BAD CONDITIONS

Some communities remain in bad conditions unless and until the tourist sector earmarks them, or someplace close by, for development as a tourist destination or attraction. A case in point is Port Royal. My wife and I used to visit there every once in a while, to dine and to cool out. I am vegetarian and therefore order plant-based meals at that famous Port Royal restaurant. Since COVID-19, we purchase the food and park somewhere near to the fort to eat and relax. I found it incredibly astounding that, for many years, the Port Royal fire station had no fire truck. That untenable situation was ridiculous, hilarious, serious, and dangerous. However, the empty space for the fire truck was quickly filled with a large unit when the nearby dock for cruise ships was completed.

Not only did a fire truck miraculously appear, several roads were paved, and the road markings brightened for safety’s sake. It made me wonder why these very basic things were not attended to until the limelight of tourism was shone on to Port Royal. Didn’t the Jamaican citizens there need and deserve a fire truck? Didn’t they deserve properly paved roads? Didn’t they deserve street markings? Didn’t they deserve the lighting and beautification that quickly sprang up for the sake of the tourists? What about us? What about the citizens of Jamaica?

I also recall the “resilient corridors”, the special effort that many lauded to keep our foreign visitors “safe and secure” during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The newspapers announced that “…the resilient corridors encompass the majority of the island’s tourism regions, provide the opportunity for visitors to enjoy more of the country’s unique offerings, as many coronavirus (COVID-19)-compliant attractions, located along the areas, are authorised for visits by the health authorities”.

The newspapers went on, “The resilient corridor… is today being celebrated all over the world as a safe and secure place for enjoying, entertaining, and having fun and realising your passions and getting back home feeling comfortable but, most importantly, healthy… even when infection levels were raging in the rest of the country and the world, [those] corridors maintained a record of 0.1 per cent infection,” the minister said.

I asked myself, what about us? What about the regular Jamaican citizens? This was one of the reasons why there were complaints that efforts at allowing room for entertainment and transacting business were not equitable. The tourist sector was treated as being essential for the survival of our country and therefore enjoyed special COVID-19 measures. Aren’t our citizens also essential for the survival of our country?

The same effort at achieving pandemic resilience should have been put into many other places where regular, everyday Jamaicans wanted and needed to gather to purchase goods, transact business and enjoy entertainment to stave off cabin fever.

It has always been my opinion that the prioritisation of visiting foreigners should be extended to everyday Jamaicans. As things stand today, the glaringly dichotomous treatment leaves many people feeling unappreciated and disrespected by the powers that be. People need to feel a vested interest in the development of our nation. It should be manifestly clear that the tourist dollars earned are helping with the development of our less-fortunate communities in general, but this should be especially true of the underprivileged communities nearby or surrounding tourist resorts.

Obviously, our visitors deserve care, protection, and happiness, but so do our citizens. No one should ever have to ask, “What about us?” If treated with respect and appreciation our citizens will feel as if they are a part of (and not apart from) their homeland, Jamaica. This will reduce crime and violence and make our little island safe for locals and visitors alike. When our people begin to feel that they are number-one in the eyes of our government and leaders, when our people begin to experience the positive outcomes of the country’s development, there will be true prosperity.

Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com.