The major contributors to the gross national product are tourism,
bauxite and agriculture.
Tourism
The largest foreign exchange earner grossed US$920 million in
1994. There are 170 registered hotels, 258 guests houses, 937 resort cottages
and villas, and 429 apartments providing nearly 20,000 tourism rooms! Tourism
arrivals in 94 exceeded 1.1 million including almost 600,000 cruise ship
passengers. Although the indigenous tourist operators are wary of the loss
of revenue to the cruise-ship trade, these visitors are all happily welcomed
as grist to the foreign exchange mill. In addition, non-traditional markets
like Europe, Japan and South America are growing and the summer season is
now as strong as the traditional winter season.
Bauxite
The raw material of aluminum is mined and exported. It is also
processed into "alumina" the first stage of aluminum production.
A major market for bauxite was the former USSR Enduring markets for alumina
are the U.S. and Canada. The government of Jamaica is now in partnership
with two U.S. firms and one Canadian firm operating in Jamaica.
Agriculture
Sugar is still the largest employer and major agricultural earner. The government
is currently divesting its sugar holdings to private enterprise. The banana
industry is in the process of rehabilitation. Coffee cultivation has been
revived and vastly increased but too rapid expansion, especially in the
Blue Mountains has created environmental problems. Other important export
crops are pimento (allspice), citrus, papayas and yams. Ganja (marijuana)
though illegal, represents a significant contribution to the economy. It
is probable that during the 70s and early
80s the revenue from ganja equaled or surpassed that of bauxite or tourism.
Thus the control of the ganja trade is fraught with economic and political
implications. Nevertheless successive governments have always co-operated
with U.S. anti-narcotic squads in their attempts to curtail the importation
of marijuana into the U.S. Local, eradication programs involving spraying
of ganja fields have proved extremely controversial. |
