Business View Caribbean | March 2020

8 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN MARCH 2020 achieve a flat rate of growth. So we would just be about 1.1 per cent, over last year. Our growth will be driven, however, by very judicious market arrangements focusing primarily on our three big markets that are the traditional North American markets and Western Europe, and South America, that we will be putting a new focus on,” he said. The Tourism Minister also disclosed that he will meet with the cruise lines tomorrow, regarding bookings. “After which, we will have a better sense of how things are looking down the road. We are talking with our partners to make sure that there is consensus on the way forward. The business of ensuring that life continues, despite coronavirus, is a serious one,” he said. Amid health concerns since the outbreak of the virus, cruise lines travelling to Jamaica recently have either been restricted from docking or its passengers prevented from disembarking. Last week, the MSC Meraviglia was refused entry to Jamaica by the Ministry of Health and Wellness when it was learned that the vessel, which was heading to Ocho Rios, St. Ann, had a sick, quarantined person on board. In addition, Italian passengers were not allowed to disembark the Costa Luminosa of the Carnival Cruise Lines in Ocho Rios. Bartlett said he will be accompanying Health and Wellness Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton, to meet with representatives of both cruise lines. In the meantime, he informed of the establishment of a steering committee – the Stakeholders Crisis Management Team – which has been working to develop a protocol for how persons are to conduct themselves in hotels, in light of the COVID-19 threat. “The tourism industry is being prepared, firstly with public education, so that every single person in the industry is going to be aware of what this Coronavirus is about. We will be using all sorts of public relations [strategies] to get the messages across. It’s about educating in terms of hygienic practices; the whole business of washing your hands and ensuring that you don’t touch your face, and when you cough, what you do,” Minister Bartlett said.