JAMAICAN TOURISM: INFRASTRUCTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINGSTON 001125 SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAR (HARNE, COLLINS),OES/OA (SCHAAF) SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EFIN EIND EINV SOCI SENV JM SUBJECT: JAMAICAN TOURISM: INFRASTRUCTURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS Ref.: Kingston 1089 ¶1. (U) Summary: The breakneck pace of development on the northern coast of Jamaica threatens the fragile ecosystem there. The GoJ has aggressively pursued foreign investment in the tourism sector, but has been slow to upgrade the infrastructure to handle the glut of new hotels and resorts. In addition, the GoJ's environmental oversight and enforcement are inadequate, where they exist at all. Not only is this having a deleterious effect on the coral reefs and coastal environment, but the influx of workers to service these projects is putting a strain on the communities that surround them, with attendant social and economic consequences. End summary. -------------- An Environmental Catastrophe -------------- ¶2. (U) Econoff met with Wendy Lee, Executive Director of the Northern Jamaica Conservation Association (NJCA) to discuss the impact of the "Spanish Invasion" of mega-resorts currently appearing across the north coast of the island (reftel). Lee was firm in her conviction that Jamaica was headed towards an environmental catastrophe if the GoJ did not act immediately to improve environmental infrastructure, strengthen governmental oversight, and to halt - at least temporarily - the enormous influx of large hotels that are slated to increase Jamaica's room stock by some 50 percent, to 40,000, by 2012. ¶3. (SBU) Lee noted that, in 2001, the GoJ unveiled its "Tourism Master Plan" for the island. In this document, the GoJ specifically recommended that Jamaica should concentrate on attracting smaller boutique hotels that would be community-based, inclusive, and environmentally sustainable, focusing on the luxury segment of the tourist sector. "The ink [on the Plan] was not yet dry," she said, when the GoJ promptly ignored its own advice, preferring to sign development deals with a number of large Spanish chains to build hotels with a typical size of 800 or more rooms. ¶4. (SBU) The effects, according to Lee, have been disastrous. Coming in for particular vitriol was the Bahia Principe Resort in Runaway Bay. The hotel is located on an environmentally fragile cove known as Pear Tree Bottom. Rumors are widespread that the hotel's sewage system is inadequate for the 1,900 rooms it will service (it currently has approximately 730),and that there is piping that simply dumps raw sewage out at sea. While it is difficult to confirm this (Bahia executives were unable - or unwilling - to meet with emboffs on a recent fact-finding trip), there is evidence that the reef in that section of the coast has experienced significant bleaching. ¶5. (U) There is a glimmer of hope in this regard. On July 17, the media reported that the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) has withdrawn the permit for phase two construction (934 rooms) on the Bahia Principe. It is still unclear whether the company itself has decided not to proceed, or whether NEPA was the driving force behind the decision. Either way, environmentalists consider this a small victory. Lee fears that if the GoJ does not step in like this all along the north coast, the reef - formally one of the premier diving locations in Jamaica - will be completely destroyed. ¶6. (SBU) But the Bahia is hardly the only project that has drawn the ire of the island's environmental protection community. At Oyster Bay, one of few bodies of water in the world that exhibits natural phosphorescence, plans are underway to construct a hotel that will have rooms that are partially submerged, in order to best view the effects. Additionally, construction of this hotel will entail the removal of large segments of rare and delicate mangrove swampland. At the RIU Negril, construction was halted by environmental groups on several occasions to address inadequacies in solid-waste management. -------------- Communities Suffer -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Nor is it only a problem of servicing the hotels themselves. Small communities across the north coast are feeling the strain that comes from both the construction and the staffing of these resorts. In virtually all the major resort towns - Ocho Rios, Runaway Bay, Montego Bay, Negril - there is a burgeoning problem of squatting in the hills surrounding the coast, as unskilled labor floods in. This in turn puts pressure on both the parish councils in the provision of utilities and services, as well as on the KINGSTON 00001125 002 OF 002 watersheds. Horace Peterkin (protect),the immediate past president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourism Association, noted that the water in Dunn's River Falls is estimated to be many times above acceptable pollutant levels, although official GoJ data disputes this assertion. ¶8. (U) Lee points to two illustrative examples of GoJ apathy towards her concerns. A GoJ policy designed to protect forested areas, known as the National System of Protected Areas, has languished since 1997, with no evidence of GoJ commitment to its implementation. Lee believes that this is because such a policy would run counter to many politicians' need to create jobs and spur investment. Likewise, she pointed out the particularly self-serving process for the preparation of the required Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for any development. She believes that NEPA is in the pocket of the politicians: the first EIA is contracted by the developers themselves. Lee notes that "he who pays the piper calls the tune." -------------- Infrastructure Weaknesses -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Interestingly, hoteliers in general do not dispute many of Lee's contentions. Their focus, however, has tended towards the need for the GoJ to address critical infrastructure inadequacies that lag behind the pace of private sector development. Of the numerous hotel owners and operators that Emboffs spoke to for this report, not a single one was pleased with the GoJ's preparation for large-scale development. Physical infrastructure: delays in the completion of the Highway 2000 project along the north coast are causing significant traffic congestion. There have also been problems in the adequate provision of utilities such as water and power which will only increase as the room stock balloons. Social infrastructure: housing, schooling, and social services for economic migrants to resort areas has barely been considered. In Ocho Rios, crime is increasingly becoming a concern, and Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller's recent announcement of 2000 extra police officers for the island can - for the time being - be considered little more than an election promise. ¶10. (SBU) Many interlocutors also pointed to the difficulty in sourcing product, something that could be a significant benefit to the island's agricultural sector and, by extension, the poorest rural communities. All of the large Spanish chains indicated that they would much prefer, for reasons both economic and social, to use local product. However, there is neither adequate and sustained provision of product, nor is there consistent quality. When asked why the GoJ had not attempted any programs to enhance these linkages between local communities and the foreign developers, most felt that there was a fundamental lack of vision among the political directorate. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶11. (SBU) It is easy to understand the desire of the GoJ to attract large levels of investment to Jamaica to facilitate job creation, generate international exchange, and to boost a lackluster economy. What seems to be missing, however, is an understanding of the delicate balance between the product that is being offered, and that very product's potential to destroy itself. Further destruction of one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet - in just one example of many, the bleaching of the coral reefs - will, in the end, drive customers away from Jamaica. This irony seems lost on politicians who, in the eyes of hoteliers and environmentalists alike, lack any form of coherent, strategic vision for the future of the tourism sector in Jamaica. Who that visionary might be, and when he or she might appear, is depressingly unclear. End comment. JOHNSON