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