Counter arguments

Against the argument for Great risk of over-tourism

1. Diversification of Tourism Products: Discuss how Jamaica is diversifying its tourism products
beyond traditional beach destinations. This includes promoting cultural and heritage
tourism, adventure tourism, and agro-tourism, which can help distribute tourists across
different regions and reduce pressure on coastal areas.
2. Infrastructure Development: Emphasize the importance of infrastructure development to
support tourism growth sustainably. This includes improving transportation networks, waste
management systems, and water supply to accommodate increasing visitor numbers without
harming the environment.
3. Regulatory Measures: Point out that Jamaica can implement regulatory measures to
manage tourism growth, such as zoning regulations, Airbnb regulations, and other
environmental regulations.
4. Public Awareness and Education: Stress the importance of public awareness and education
campaigns to promote responsible tourism behaviour among visitors and locals alike. This
can help reduce the negative impacts of tourism on the environment and local communities.

If they have not done a risk assessment nor measured the risk of over-tourism

1. Lack of Comprehensive Understanding: Without a risk assessment or proper measurement

of over-tourism, opponents may lack a comprehensive understanding the concept of
overtourism. This could lead to underestimating the risks and overlooking important factors
that could affect the country's sustainability.
2. Explain that your team conducted a thorough risk assessment to evaluate the potential
impacts of over-tourism in Jamaica. This assessment considered factors such as visitor
numbers, infrastructure capacity, environmental sensitivity, and community resilience.

Confusing normal tourism growth and over-tourism

1. Failure to Recognize Thresholds: Explain that over-tourism occurs when tourism exceeds
sustainable thresholds, such as the capacity of infrastructure, the resilience of natural
ecosystems, and the tolerance of local communities. Point out that without recognizing
these thresholds, it is difficult to address the root causes of over-tourism.
2. Highlight that over-tourism can have severe negative impacts, including environmental
degradation, cultural erosion, and social unrest. Suggest that the opponents may be
overblowing one-off issues or those that are caused by other factors for over-tourism.

Against the point that tourist arrivals increased a lot from 2022 to 2023

1. That argument is faulty. we have only returned to the pre-covid numbers in 2023.
Since 2017 tourist arrivals were already at 4.22 million according to the World Bank.
The highest year ever was 2018 with 4.32 million. 2019 was 4.28 million. There is an
argument that Jamaica tourism’s market entered a matured phase, and an increase
would be based on our expansion of tourism products and marketing.
Against the point that Jamaica’s tourist arrivals are high for 2023 (4.23M) or compared to countries
like Trinidad (141,000 in 2020)

2. Point out that Jamaica has invested significantly in tourism infrastructure, including
hotels, resorts, and attractions, which can attract more tourists compared to
countries with less developed tourism infrastructure like Trinidad.
3. Trinidad does not need tourism as it has large natural gas and manufacturing
industries.
4. Trinidad is not the standard according to our sources compared to Barcelona,
Barbados and Aruba to name a few.
Against growth in tourists causing Coastal environmental damage
1. The main point is that it is manageable with our current growth rate. Emphasize the
establishment and management of marine protected areas (MPAs) to conserve coastal
ecosystems. MPAs can help protect coral reefs, fish habitats, and other marine resources
from the impacts of tourism activities.

Against More tourists leading to high housing prices

1. There are other factors like economic growth, inflation, and infrastructure improvements.
2. Airbnb is the only related tourism factor, and all the government needs to do it regulate it
where Airbnb operators must register with the government.