We found very instructive an address last Thursday by British Prime Minister David Cameron on the challenges and opportunities that tourism presents to the United Kingdom.
For us, that address — in which Mr Cameron focussed on the importance of tourism to England and the role his Government intends to play in ensuring that his country captures more of the global travel market — is really a signal to us here in Jamaica that we need to sharpen our game if we intend to compete.
After pointing out to his audience that his Government regards tourism as fundamental to the rebuilding and rebalancing of the British economy, and that the industry — which earned the UK £115 billion last year — was “one of the best and fastest ways of generating the jobs” that are so badly needed in England, Mr Cameron outlined a raft of measures and incentives that will, no doubt, stir the kind of investment in the sector that will most likely realise his goal of pushing Britain into the world’s top five destinations.
Essentially what Mr Cameron said he will be doing is freeing England’s 200,000 tourism businesses from red tape and excessive business taxes.
“For the next three years we’re waiving some employment taxes on the first 10 jobs created by new businesses outside London, the south east and the eastern region,” Mr Cameron said.
The Government, he added, will cut the main rate of corporation tax to 24 pence, the small companies rate to 20 pence; reduce the time it takes to set up a business; and stop the removal of tax breaks on furnished holiday lettings. In addition, his administration’s new Regional Growth Fund, he said, has “created an opportunity for the tourism sector to bid for support for its most creative ideas with £1 billion available to kick-start projects that will drive private sector growth”.
What Mr Cameron and his Government are doing is — as he so correctly put it — bringing a whole new approach and attitude to tourism that includes consultation with the sector to find out what works for the industry and what doesn’t.
Tourism, we all know, is an extremely competitive business. Therefore, any opportunity that Jamaica can access to ensure that we get our share of the pie and more is worth grabbing with both hands, as Britain is not the only destination that is going aggressively after the travel market.
It is against that background that we are disappointed that the Jamaican Government’s plan to implement a tax incentive for hotels under the Tourism Improvement Refurbishing Programme (TIRP) has been put on hold, less that three weeks after it was announced by Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett.
The official reason given by the finance minister, Mr Audley Shaw, is that the Government is reviewing the overall granting of tax waivers and incentives.
However, the information we have is that Mr Shaw had no choice but to include the TIRP in the review as the programme was announced before he had a chance to fashion an agreement with the International Monetary Fund.
If that is true — and we have no reason at this point to doubt our source — it would leave Minister Bartlett with the dubious distinction of delaying for the tourism industry an incentive that it could best utilise now to refurbish in preparation for the crucial winter season.
It is indeed a blow for the sector. However, it should serve as an indication to Minister Bartlett that in addition to helping to promote Jamaica, his job includes working with the sector to frame policies and consulting with his colleagues in the administration to ensure those polices are implemented smoothly in order that we can compete.
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