Letter of the Day | Can Jamaica afford to make Dubai’s mistakes?
Published:Thursday | February 1, 2024 | 12:07 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony last Saturday, both Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett lauded the construction of The Pinnacle, a luxury resort in the Montego Bay area, as redefining and modernising Jamaican tourism. Mr Bartlett in particular noted a desire to compete with the tourism model coming out of Dubai, stating: “We spent a lot of time talking to the guys in Dubai, and suddenly they are going to be looking at us, because we are going to be looking like them.” Both he and the prime minister expressed hope that the US$350-million project, which features 423 residential apartments, 15 private villas, a marina, and a private club to be opened in 2028, will diversify the Jamaica tourism model by promoting city tourism, pivoting Montego Bay from a sleepy tourist resort to a lively luxury destination such as London or Abu Dhabi.
Minister Bartlett in particular expressed a desire to attract the millennial audience, who “are looking for a different kind of product”. While there is no doubt that Jamaican tourism, with its climate vulnerability and tendency to store the majority of its profits overseas, could benefit from some shake-up, a closer look reveals that the luxury-style model of Dubai is fraught with issues that Jamaica cannot afford to replicate.
SOCIAL INEQUITY
First, there is the fact that the hotel is being constructed on top of the Montego Bay Marine Reserve. While LCH Developments has pledged to safeguard the environmental well-being of the area, it cannot be ignored that luxury resorts of this type have come under intense scrutiny in the past for how they dispose of their waste. Too often, the default for hotels of this type has been to discharge raw sewage into nearby water bodies, and the close proximity of The Pinnacle to the marine reserve is cause for concern. Dubai is struggling with this issue, especially given that the city’s rapid construction took place before the building out of its sewage system. The sight of convoys of trucks collecting and transporting sewage to treatment plants is not uncommon across the city. Moreover, the issue of supplying sufficient water is worthy of further examination, especially given that high-rise construction across the Corporate Area has come under fire, as developers build without consideration for the depleted state of local aquifers.
As it concerns social impact, there is little to indicate that the pivot towards luxury tourism is avoiding the same pitfalls of embedding social inequity, for which Dubai is infamous. While our construction workers are not forcefully held in slave-like conditions, there is significant cause for concern that the knock-on effects of unregulated construction on local communities are not being acknowledged. Residents in communities across the Corporate Area have complained of a lack of consultation, or even notification, before construction takes place. They have been forced to endure noise, air pollution, and restricted access to green space and airflow. The issue of beach access across the island has highlighted the reality that many residents of the island cannot afford to access areas which are explicitly cordoned off for the enjoyment of wealthy visitors.
The reality is that Jamaica is dependent on tourism, and will remain so for the foreseeable future. As emerging destinations in Latin America and South East Asia continue to compete with our traditional tourism model, it will be necessary to branch out from ‘sun, sea, sand, and sex’. Against a backdrop of a growing millennial interest in travel, there is room for community-based tourism models to offer an authentic Jamaican experience to a demographic that is increasingly concerned with venturing off the beaten path. Luxury tourism does have a place as well, but there are more sustainable models to emulate. Las Vegas, for instance, has emerged as a success story in balancing high-end tourism alongside water conservation.
COLIN BOGLE