Ja's tourism to benefit from attack on US

THE EDITOR, Sir:

IT IS so good to be back home after being stranded in Washington for four days. I recognised quite a few of the craft people that took part in Air Jamaica's Islands in the Park standing patiently in the long line at the check-in counter. How I gave thanks that I had travelled Air Jamaica to Baltimore and not my usual route via American to Ronald Reagan International in D.C.

The flight arrived in Montego Bay en route to Kingston and I can't begin to tell you what it felt like to step once again on Jamaican soil. It was as if nothing had changed. The people chilling at The Margaritaville bar looked so laid back and happy, it really was a breath of fresh air.

My point is that although some people see doom and gloom for our tourist industry I see a potential boom. In America you are fed a steady diet of the horrific visuals, the heart-rending interviews and the ever-present threat. The human psyche can only take so much. I'm sure that many Jamaicans living abroad who had no plans to come home for Christmas will be here. Many Americans will need to just get away from it all. I hope we will prepare for this possibility by not wasting scarce funds on glossy advertisements but instead invest that money in improving the product.

The American government is making plans to bail out some of its airline companies and I hope Jamaica will do the same with Air Jamaica. I'm sure the events of the past week have brought home, to most Jamaicans, the fact that it is imperative for our very survival to keep Air Jamaica in the skies. We cannot be at the mercy of the whims and fancies of foreign nations and their carriers; we must remain independent of them. I may be just an optimistic fool but I do believe that every cloud can have a silver lining.

I am etc.,

COLETTE GARRICK

wanderer46@hotmail.com

3 Queens Way,

Kingston 10

Via Go-Jamaica

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