Civil Unrest in Parts of Kingston, JA, Causing Fallout in Tourism Sector, Cancellations Expected to Mount

The civil unrest in Jamaica will, undoubtedly, take a toll on tourism. According to Radio Jamaica, Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) President Wayne Cummings said with the international attention that Jamaica has been receiving there have already been fallouts in tourist arrivals.

He says several persons who were scheduled to arrive have not turned up while others have begun cancelling their trip. Mr. Cummings says the state of emergency is a topical issue in the travel industry. Some hotels are still running high occupancies while others are doing relatively well but the JHTA President is unable to quantify the level of cancellations so far. Mr. Cummings emphasized that the situation being as it is, the country should allow the security forces to do their jobs without loss of innocent lives. He adds that the JHTA and Jamaica Tourist Board have been liaising with the travel industry to keep them abreast of the situation in Jamaica. Mr. Cummings is continuing to assure the travel industry that Jamaica remains open for business and there is no immediate threat to visitors. Source: Radio Jamaica

This is not good. The island depends heavily on tourism and many Jamaicans who work in the industry will be adversely affected. For all those supporters of Christopher "Dudus" Coke, who would prefer to see the country descend into anarchy are doing themselves a great disservice. It is time for this madness to end. Too many innocent people are caught in the crossfire.

On a personal note:

I have devoted much of my blog posts in the past several days to bringing my readers breaking news in the continuing saga of Dudus' extradition. I take a personal stake in this because I spent my formative years in western Jamaica. It really breaks my heart to see parts of Kingston descend into anarchy as the police and soldiers try to combat the forces of evil roaming the streets in support of a known criminal. I would implore all to pray for the innocent people caught in the crossfire of this series of events.

According to Radio Jamaica, some airlines are cancelling or diverting flights.

Several airlines with routes in and out of the Kingston based Norman Manley International Airport have cancelled flights. Senior Vice President of Operations at the Airports Authority of Jamaica, Paul Hall, says some flights have also been diverted from Kingston to Montego Bay.

“It appears that some of the airlines are canceling flights coming into Kingston. British Airlines is contemplating diverting to Montego Bay. We haven’t heard from Virgin but a couple of Air Jamaica flights are going to be cancelled,” Mr. Hall said. Air Jamaica has cancelled three flights due to the unrest in Kingston.