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Tourists enjoying jelly coconuts.
Monique Hepburn, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
A COMPARATIVE survey on import structures among seven other Caribbean tourism destinations has ranked Jamaica as the country with the highest importation costs for products used in the hotel and tourism sectors.
At the request of Caribbean Producers Jamaica (CPJ) Limited, one of the island's largest food service companies, the auditing firm, KPMG, developed a comparative profile of the main Government-imposed costs of importation, comparing Jamaica with Aruba, the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, St. Lucia and the Dominican Republic.
The costs compared were import taxes, customs duties and import permits on products such as meats, alcoholic beverages and processed agricultural produce. Jamaica ranked at the top of the list of competitors with some alarming figures in comparison to the other seven territories.
"The details of the study were submitted to the Ministry of Finance and Planning in September 2001 and efforts at lobbying for duty reductions on wines and spirits has got the Cabinet's approval. However, the Cabinet has not issued any publication on the matter," said CPJ Chairman Mark Hart, in an interview with The Gleaner last week.
GROWTH AND DIVERSIFICATION
"Such policies (import) do not promote the growth and diversification of the tourism sector," said Mr. Hart, in reference to the Jamaican situation. "It is a negative move as the sector provides linkages and support other sectors and industries."
In light of the high import taxes, top players in the tourism sector are concerned that hotels and restaurants will not be able to achieve maximum profits, as the raw materials they use are far too expensive. The example of wines and spirits among other items were cited in the study as attracting US$464.25 in total tariff as compared with Aruba with zero tariff and Cayman Islands with US$12.66. In the study, duties on red potatoes for Jamaica stand at US$69.98, while the figures for the Dominican Republic stand at US$64.16 and those for Aruba at US$26.81.
"Jamaica is at the top end with regards to duties. The policies of the Ministry of Finance do not boost business or commercial activities. They (the Ministry) need to identify and foster sectors that have great potential. One obvious one is tourism." Mr. Hart continued. "The hotels are areas of production and their standards of service are being compromised because taxes are too high. The industry is losing its opportunity to convert raw materials into profit."
President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourism Association (JHTA) Godfrey Dyer, who is owner/operator of Montego Bay's Wexford Court Hotel, shares the view that duties on agricultural products and raw materials that are being used in the sectors are very high.
"Overall I think the duties are too high. If they were lower, we could offer better menu rates," he said.
