I note that Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett has sought to justify his decision to donate US$ 500,000 to the promoters of the Jazz & Blues Festival by attributing increased visitor arrivals for January 2009 to the staging of the event.

The minister, in a recent interview, claimed that there was a major spike in tourist arrivals towards the end of January while the jazz festival was being held in Montego Bay. This is incorrect and misleading.

Information provided by the minister himself shows that no such spike took place during the week of the festival, January 22-28, or, for that matter, in the prior week, January 15-21. Tourist arrivals were flat in the week of the event, increasing by only 1.8 per cent and by 1.3 per cent in the previous week.

The real spike actually occurred after the festival in the last three days of the month, January 29-31, when arrivals jumped by 51 per cent largely due to the fact that there was an additional, peak week-end travel day compared with the same period in 2008.

Minister Bartlett has, on previous occasions, quoted figures that have later turned out to be erroneous. Such as when he announced that one million stop-over visitors had arrived in the island in the first six months of 2008 when the actual figure was less than 940,000. On other occasions he has misled the public, as was the case in December 2008 when he predicted buoyant arrivals for the month based on a 14 per cent increase in the first week but, as it later turned out, arrivals for the month actually decreased by 0.2 per cent.

Time of crisis

The minister should understand that at a time of crisis it is especially important that information that is provided must be credible and not massaged to justify questionable decisions.

If we accept his assertion that the Jamaica jazz festival attracted an audience of over 40,000 patrons, that would mean that it grossed approximately J$240,000,000 of revenue not including private-sector sponsorships and the Government's contribution). Meanwhile, costs were budgeted at J$160,000,000. This leaves a profit of $80 million before the Government's intervention.

Against this background, it is important that the minister provide to the Jamaican taxpayers a full account, of the uses of, and outcomes from the Government's financial contribution to the festival.

I am, etc.,

WYKEHAM MCNEILL

Opposition spokesman on tourism