WESTERN BUREAU:
On the eve of the winter tourist season, which commences on Monday, one of the island's largest hotel chains, Sandals Resorts International, has made approximately 650 of its employees throughout the Carib-bean redundant.
The figure represents a 7.5 per cent decrease in the resort chain's workforce. A total of 285 of those sent home were employed to Sandals hotels in Montego Bay, Ocho Rios and Negril.
The group, in a press release, said it was forced to take the decision as a result of the unprecedented global financial crisis which is affecting tourism interests worldwide. "We have had no choice but to streamline operations and trim expenditure," said the release.
Despite the reduction, the company said its staff complement spread throughout its brands - Sandals, Beaches, Royal Plantation and Grand Pineapple Resorts - now stands at approximately 5,000 in Jamaica and 5,000 throughout the rest of the Caribbean.
There is, however, a glimmer of hope for some of the Jamaican workers sent home. The company, in a release, said that in January 2009, 104 team members of those displaced, will be joining the new Italian Village at Beaches Turks and Caicos. "This will substantially reduce the number of team members affected by these changes," said the release, which was sent out by Rachel McLarty, group director of communications.
Sandals is just one of the many hotels already affected by the economic tsunami. Another of the island's major players, SuperClubs Resorts, confirmed that it was not laying off staff, but had been forced to rotate many of its employees locally in the last month. The situation is expected to worsen, spreading across the island, if the predictions of a 30 per cent decline in arrivals this winter prove true.
Of importance is the fact that the news comes one day after a reported high-level meeting of stakeholders, including Sandals chairman Gordon 'Butch' Stewart, Sunset Resorts Group's Ian Kerr, SueprClubs' John Issa, with Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett and John Lynch, chairman of the Jamaica Tourist Board, to discuss the long-standing request for a stimulus package for the tourism industry.
Global crisis
The meeting was preceded by a gathering of the Private Sector Organisation and Prime Minister Bruce Golding on Wednesday.
The prime minister is expected to address the nation tomorrow regarding the global crisis and measures to be put in place to deal with the ensuing challenges.
The duration of this global economic downturn is so far uncertain. The situation commenced after a sound start to the year (international tourist arrivals worldwide averaged 5.7 per cent from January-April). Growth fell below two per cent in June, July and August as the high price of oil and rising inflation took their toll, and together with recession fears, squeezed travel budgets.
For the first eight months of 2008, growth averaged 3.7 per cent compared with the same period in 2007, while for the year as a whole, it is now projected to be at around two per cent globally.
And, as the current troubled economic scenario is expected to continue into 2009, the United Nations World Travel Organisation's initial forecast for next year is an even more modest performance.
janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com