All-inclusive Resorts in Jamaica: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
One of the most divisive issues in Caribbean tourism concerns the explosion of all-inclusive resorts throughout the region – what the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) calls “enclave tourism.” By now only the most neophyte tourist would fail to understand what is meant: one price pays for everything – room, food, drinks, entertainment, often airport pickup too. With shops, salons and other amenities generally available on property one needn’t ever step outside the resort compound—which of course is the whole idea. For those brave and hardy souls who wish to visit attractions beyond the resort’s impregnable walls, excursions can be booked using the resort’s van and driver.
From two such resorts in 1983, Jamaica in 1998 had 45; by 2002, 55% of the island’s 14,000+ hotel rooms were all-inclusive. Over roughly the same period the tourism industry captured an increasingly large share of Jamaica’s economy; recent figures put it at 34%. Today, it is almost inconceivable that any large new resort coming into Jamaica would even consider not being all-inclusive. Google the topic and you are likely to access sites that advise tourists on the various benefits and disadvantages to them of various travel options. You may have to dig deeper to uncover information about the effects of all-inclusives on the local population and environment in the resort communities and neighboring areas.
According to the UNEP, only $5 out of every $100 spent on a “vacation package” (typically, all-inclusive) by an overseas traveler stays in the developing country’s economy. This is a sobering statistic that should give pause to everyone involved in tourism in Jamaica and the Caribbean. “Leakage” of that other $95 occurs in many ways, the most obvious being repatriation of profits to foreign owners and investors. Other ways money is leeched off include: 1) importing of goods from overseas, both for site construction as well as food and other consumer items; 2) overseas promotional expenditures; 3) amortization of debt incurred in resort construction and development.
Stephanie Black’s documentary film “Life and Debt” explains how large foreign hotels are typically given generous incentives to build in Jamaica, such as paying no tax for a number of years. Some might argue this reveals a “dark side” of the capitalist system. It’s much like major league sports teams commanding incentives from cities wishing to host (or continue hosting) them, in effect holding the community hostage by threatening to go elsewhere if sufficiently lucrative packages are not put forth; thus results the ugly situation of teams that throw multi-million dollar contracts at celebrity athletes gaining tax monies off the backs of residents who don’t make a fraction of the stars’ salaries (and who might never be able to afford going to a game). Often the city or country feels it has no choice but to make the concessions or lose out on having the team or hotel. This seems not all that different too from multinational companies coercing tax incentives, wage caps and so forth by threatening to pull their factories out of developing nations to relocate to countries with lower labor costs – the so-called “race to the bottom.” The factories may be no better than sweatshops but desperate people have a hard time saying no even to slave wages and brutal working conditions.
The UNEP cites a study of Jamaica’s tourism industry carried out by the Organization of American States (OAS) that found that while all-inclusives generate the most revenue, they have a smaller impact on the local economy per dollar of revenue. All-inclusives also import more goods (rather than using local) and employ fewer people per dollar of revenue. The UNEP concluded this “confirms the concern of those who have argued that all-inclusives have a smaller trickle-down effect on local economies.”
John Issa of Superclubs argues that all-inclusives provide a better salary and gratuity package than other accommodation options. Clayson Payton of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union claims however that the pay is about average for the industry, while conceding that jobs in all-inclusive resorts tend to be sought after.
Gail Jackson of Negril Treehouse Resort believes that fear and a reputation of violence is capitalized on in marketing all-inclusives: “Jamaica is being marketed for all-inclusive vacations as if the Jamaicans are bad people,” she is reported as saying. It is common knowledge that Jamaica has a high murder rate; it may not be so widely known that the great majority of violent crime tends to be confined to the yards of Kingston.
I have heard American travel agents say they wouldn’t market Jamaica for being “too rough.” I have heard American tourists, big tall guys, say they would never go back to Jamaica because of the “aggressiveness” of higglers and others trying to make a buck off them. (I know the government had instigated a program some years back to teach greater sensitivity to vendors and in my travels to Jamaica I have witnessed successful achievements in this area.)
The most glaring issue for Jamaicans is the likelihood that all-inclusives take work and profits away from those outside the exclusive compound walls, including hotel and shop owners, vendors, restaurateurs, beach and street higglers and independent service providers. Does anybody believe this is not the case? It’s difficult to see where the tide might be lifting all boats. Does this not then incite frustration and anger among these same independent marketers and increase the likelihood of a hostile reaction toward tourists who pass them by without a look, or who stop but don’t buy? It seems almost impossible not to answer in the affirmative.
Let us remember a basic aspect of being human. Frustration and even anger are normal (if not the most adaptive) reactions to having one’s back against the wall with little hope of escape. A higgler who works his/her butt off day in and day out and ends up with next to nothing, who then feels hostility against tourists or “the system” or “Babylon,” cannot be dismissed as a whiner or troublemaker. They are entrepreneurs and deserve respect for their hard work. The ones who have gone past that stage to hopelessness are also demonstrating a very human response to an unmanageable, “can’t-win” situation and deserve not only respect, but understanding and compassion. Those who go beyond to acts of violence may lose our respect and must suffer the consequences, but “the system” that precludes equal opportunity for all must share the blame.
Owners of all-inclusive properties are not blind to the problems. Sandals vans bringing tourists to the crafts market by the park in Negril are a common sight (at least the times I have been in Negril). But there are interesting places to shop and eat and poke one’s head into all along the beach and cliffs. It’s difficult to explore and enjoy these areas in a chauffeured van with the driver herding you in and out according to the resort’s posted schedule. Of course, if tourists never leave the compound the issue is moot entirely.
According to Responsible Vacations (dot) com, Sandals Negril Resort is experimenting with various methods to increase opportunities for locals to share in resort profits, including promoting tours of the community by locals, inviting local craft vendors to sell in the hotel, and more. Any steps taken in this direction are all to the good.
“Life and Debt” points out that large resorts may rely more upon imported than home-grown foods and incur hardship for local growers. The film shows tourists at an apparently all-inclusive resort who may not be aware that the food they are eating has been shipped in from Miami. It also revealed that fast-food giant McDonald’s made burgers from imported meat rather than buying from local producers.
All-inclusives are here to stay, obviously. At the same time there will always be tourists who value independent travel and the more authentic experience that may offer (the joys of homegrown Jamaican food, for starters). The problem is in striking an optimal balance that provides the most benefit to the most Jamaicans. Jason Henzell of Jake’s in Treasure Beach suggests: “I want… Jamaica Tourist Board to… say Jamaica is diverse, we have excellent bed-and-breakfasts…excellent boutique properties and… excellent all-inclusives.”
The bigger issue here extends beyond tourism to the realm of the capitalist system itself. In the age of neoliberal economics, capital is valued above human and workers’ rights, above protecting the environment and the health and wellbeing of the people (even, apparently, with global climate change, above survival of the species). The values of the system tend to be internalized by those living within it, which suggests the hypothesis that tourists are increasingly concerned with monetary issues and less about the people they encounter on their travels. Obviously this isn’t true of all travelers and to the extent it may be true for tourists in general, one hopes the trend will be reversed. #Jamaican lives matter! The glimmer of hope is that the system is not the result of a natural evolutionary process but of the choices and actions of human beings and can thus be changed for the better.
