China has emerged as an economic powerhouse in the modern era, its recent progress can only be described in superlatives. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of this 1.3 billion people strong superpower is more than US$7 trillion, and the average annual GDP growth of 10 per cent is expected to continue for some time. Per capita income growth has been eight per cent over the last 30 years. This communist party controlled trading empire, which amazingly and perhaps hypo-critically, has been accorded "favoured nation" status by the United States of America (USA), has racked up considerable surpluses, and is reportedly owed US$5 billion by the said USA, arguably capitalism's self-appointed bastion. How ironic!

To the rational thinker, China with a labour force of almost 800 million, represents the new economic frontier, and is already a happy hunting ground for investors of every hue.

Athletic prowess

Jamaica has just paraded its mind-blowing athletic prowess at the Beijing Olympics, in the heartland of China. Watched by billions, our Bolt-inspired Olympic aggregation, forced a stunned viewing public to sit up and take note. We delivered world and Olympic record performances with consummate ease, but after much hard work. These unfor-gettable performances defied the odds given our per capita resource base.

One would imagine that many people discovered this dot-like isle in the Caribbean for the first time, and their research would inevitably connect them with the legacies of Bob Marley, Marcus Garvey, Merlene Ottey, Michael Manley, Herb McKinley, Michael McCal-lum, Rex Nettleford, and a host of other Jamaican icons. With the combination of captive market for Chinese tourists and Jamaica's cultural and sporting irresistibility, one would have expected the main players in the industry to engage our local Chinese population in a 'no holds barred' initiative to harness a potential market of tourists from the second largest economy in the world, who, with some imagination, sophistication and effort, could be lured to our shores for exotic holidays on a repeat basis.

Income generating gold mine

Instead, our local tourist board and other government stakeholders appear to be unwittingly focusing exclusively on the US and Canadian markets, the economies of which have growth rates that are less flattering than China's. Could someone enlighten our darkness as to the apparent non-attention to this potential foreign-income generating gold mine? Does China factor into the Jamaica Tourist Board's, ministry of tourism's plans to increase and diversify our visitor base? Has the Beijing excitement dissipated, and is it now too late to leverage the free attention gained at the Olympics? Have we dropped the ball again, or is there yet hope, or even a plan that has not yet been commu-nicated? For our sakes, and for that of generations to come, let us hope that plans are afoot to engage a veritable sea of potential Chinese visitors.

I am, etc.,

WAT CHING

wat.ching@yahoo.com

Kingston 6