Virtual Conference

The Jamaican Retirement Tourism Declining Market

I. Identification

1. The Issue

Crime in Jamaica has both directly and indirectly impacted the potential growth of a retirement tourism market in Jamaica. The lack of planning and implementation of policy focused towards this group will be a golden opportunity missed by the Jamaican government. The retirees have become an important economic and social benefit to the country and; through public policy it should be in the interest of the Jamaican government to ensure the safety and security of their livelihood and investments to keep them in the country. Through collaboration, preventative measures and incentives, the retirement tourism market should increase; however, there is a lack of policy mandated for this tourism subset.

2. Description

The retirement tourism market, which are mainly expatriates are commonly referred in Jamaica as returning residents. The return back home is important to the final steps in the migration phase that completes the story to many that return (Thomas-Hope, 1999), however, because of the fear of crime, some do not realize this dream. In a country of an estimated 2.7 million (CIA World Fact Book, 2004), Jamaica has been ranked as the country with the highest murder rate per capita recently surpassing South Africa and Colombia. The retirement market constitutes approximately 1% of the estimated population and contributes to Jamaica’s largest foreign exchange earners – tourism and remittances (cash flow through pension deposits, investments, money transfers, etc.; in 2002 both tourism and remittances contributed 1.2 billion dollars to the economy. The value in securing the livelihood, investment, and perceptions of this population proves viable to the stability of the Jamaican economy and sustaining tourism.
From the 1950s to the 1970s many Jamaicans left Jamaica to improve their economic status migrating primarily to the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. In the minds of many, they have long dreamt of a time when they will return mainly to retire. The dream for many has not actualized, given the current social conditions marked by the upsurge in violent crimes. “The once bubbling flow of overseas-based Jamaicans returning home to live is steadily being cut to just more than a trickle” (Virtue, 1999). From 1192 – 2003, the total recorded number of retirees is estimated at 21,593, which is close to top retirement tourist destination.

Although may seem to be a relatively low number in comparison to the total population, the retirees provide a wealth of benefits to the country both in terms of financial and social skills and resources. The statistics on the number of returnees have only officially been reported since 1992; at which during this time, the returnees have increased over a period of three years and have continually decreased continually for six years (see Table 1). It is important to note that the statistics in table 1 does not differentiate between the retired and non-retired person, however approximately 99% are retirees.

Table 1

Year ORIGINATING COUNTRY Total

U.K. U.S.A. Canada Other

1992 1,552*

1993 919 988 278 174 2,359

1994 1,145 999 333 110 2,587

1995 1,007 905 288 153 2,353

1996 995 863 296 114 2,268

1997 995 762 244 91 2,092

1998 821 715 211 128 1,875

1999 793 677 212 83 1,765

2000 594 501 132 55 1282

2001 531 427 144 75 1177

2002 417 500 121 75 1113

2003 417 573 147 33 1170

Data Source: Planning Institute of Jamaica 2002, 20.10; from Customs and Excise Department

To date, there has been very little research on the declining trend; however, one could conclude from anecdotes that crime both directed and not directed towards retirees is a factor in this market’s decline. In 1999, according to Percival LaTouche, President of the Association for the Resettlement of Returning Residents, a total of 41 over the age of 60 had returned either to England or to the United States and over the period of four years, fifty-two retirees had been murdered. (Virtue, 1999). Direct reports of cases suggest that retirees were being targeted prior to and during 1999 and that their primary concern was crime and their well-being. As with tourists, retirees were also seen as easy targets and they are assumed to have a certain amount of wealth. Unfortunately, retirees are treated just like the residents and are not protected the same way as tourists and are spread out across the island and fear their own safety.
Violent crime is the main deterrent for retirees and is one of the greatest social problems facing Jamaica. Poverty, drug related crimes and politics have brought about the crime issue. In a recent report, Minister Peter Philips was recently quoted as saying:

We are at war, some may consider the description as emotive, but all would agree that today Jamaica is in deep crisis. The country's murder total for this year - 374 in the first 79 days of the year - is 135 more people than were killed in the same period last year. Jamaica's murder rate could be compared with the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq since 2005 started - 210 so far. (McCalla Sobers, 2005, n.p).

Crime and economic growth are interrelated. As unemployment increases, crime also an increase, thus hampering Jamaica’s potential for growth and stability. Contrary to the theories presented which discusses the relationship between tourism and crime, crime in Jamaica has had minimal impact to the tourist community. In 2004, the tourist arrivals broke record of over 2.5 million (Jamaica Information Service, 2005) and because of continued aggressive marketing to maintain a positive image despite the increase in Jamaica mainly in the capitol, Kingston and the surrounding areas. Crime has also been minimal towards the retirees; crime has been directed at this group with occasional thefts or burglary that, in some cases, have ended in assault and murder. Again, this problem has been and continues to be addressed on many levels; however, there is a lack of policy that focuses on maintaining or increasing this group’s interest in returning home that will ensure their safety and security.
At the present time there have been no incidences towards the retirees reported, however crime has taken a turn for the worst with the violent crimes being permeated by murders that include the killings of police officers, witnesses and competitors (Sanders, 2003). “Over the past two decades, Jamaica has experienced an unparalleled increase in homicides and violent assaults. Many attempts made throughout the years to reduce the number of violent crimes occurring in the island have mainly been short-term measures aimed predominantly at increasing police mobility and firepower and have ultimately provide to be unsustainable” (Chevannes, 2001, n.p.). The current issue today is what approach is the best approach for handling the serious and growing problem and how to sustain the retirement tourist market.
According to Pizam, Tarlow, and Bloom “most tourists select their destinations not only on the basis of price and destination, but, most importantly, on personal safety and security” (1997). The same concept holds true to where the retirement communities have thrived the most. It is believed that prospective retirees cautiously make the decision to retire in Jamaica or look at other destinations such as Florida or other Caribbean destinations that appeal and attract retirees through various policy program and incentives. .
There is much to be studied about the retiree’s in Jamaica and further research is needed in order to directly link the decline of this tourist market segment to crime. In order to study this issue, the Jamaican government needs to first recognize the retirees as a tourist subset and then track statistics by the type of tourist; this will allow for the progression of sustainability for the retirees, which will foster collaboration and solutions to address the issue effectively.

3. Related Cases:

here are not any directly related cases, however countries such as Costa Rica, Belize, Panama and Malaysia are just a few of the countries that have created a retirement tourist program to increase their economic base by attracting retirees to their countries. The major differences between these countries and Jamaica are that they first recognize that this market segment is an important market to the tourism industry in their respective countries. Secondly, the other countries mainly attract foreign retirees, while Jamaica attract foreign nationals without courting these individuals, and lastly, each country understands that low crime is important to attaining and maintaining this group’s presence. In 1999, Belize created the Retired Person’s Act. The Belize Tourism Board oversees the implementation of this program, which is designed to attract more retirees to Belize. This act offers financial incentives to qualified retirees and the other countries have similar programs to lure and maintain the retiree, which ultimately boosts the economy of each country.

4. Author and Date:

Sekeno Aldred
Master of Tourism Administration Candidate
Event and Meeting Management
Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management
The George Washington University
600 21st Street, NW
Washington D.C. 20052
sekeno@gwu.ed
April, 2005

II. Policy Impacts

5. Social:

The lack of policy focused on the retirement tourism market has become an added factor to the erosion of this market segment and risk the loss of a group of diverse individual’s experiences and skills and families will continue to lack a cohesive family structure.

7. Economic:

Remittances and tourism play an important economic role to the GDP. Tourism is approximately 50 percent of the foreign exchange inflows into the country in 2002 both tourism and remittances contributed USD 1.2 billion to the economy. A lack of policy to sustain the retirement tourism market could severely impact Jamaica’s economy by reducing the GDP and potential new investments.

III. Legal Clusters

10. Discourse and Status/Policy Issue:

There is no active legislation being pursued to protect the retirees. Legislation focused on crime is currently being amended to increase penalties such as the Firearms Act and further restrict those involved in criminal practices from enjoying the wealth of their illegal profits. This is essential since most crimes are a result of drug related crimes.

11. Forum and Scope/Existing Policy Framework:

The Jamaicans Overseas Department (formerly the Returning Residents Facilitation Unit) facilitates Jamaican retirees in making a smooth transition into the country. The Department serves to inform retirees about the various agencies they would need to interact with when moving to Jamaica. The current policy includes incentive such as tax-free importation on household good and vehicles.
The Jamaican crime policy is addressed on the national level by various agencies within the Jamaican government such as the Ministry of National Security and Justice. Locally the University of West Indies, Mona Campus has compiled a report on the transformative approach to crime and justice. Programs such as the Youth Crime Watch and the returning resident associations focusing on training deportees are additional efforts conducted on a local level. On an international level the crime issue has been addressed by the following regional and international organizations such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime - Caribbean Regional Office, CARICOM - An Agreement has been drafted by CARICOM to combat illicit maritime drug traffic.

12. Decision Breadth/Stakeholders/Policy Actors:

In developing policy, the Jamaican government would create a policy that would focus on the retirement tourism policy. In this case the stakeholder would include the Jamaican Oversees Department which is the current liaison and facilitating organization for the retirees, the Jamaican Tourist Board, Ministry of Tourism creates relationships among the customers and suppliers, the Ministry of National Security and Justice is responsible for the security and defense of Jamaica which include the Jamaica Defense Force which offers military service, and the Jamaica Constabulary Force which maintains the law and order as well as the retiree/currently the Returning Resident Association, local citizens and the other community organizations.

13. Legal Standing/Legal Regulatory Framework/Suggested Policy Intervention:

Jamaica's political system is stable, yet the criminal justice’s integrity is at an all time low. Inefficiencies within the criminal justice system have created a backlogs and distrust of the system’s capability to prosecute and provide security in those that uphold the law. Suggested policy interventions include: programs to increase collaboration among the stakeholders. An example of this would be to create a conference or meeting that would ultimately lead to solutions to be implemented.

14. Type of Measure:

Economical and social measures can be used to encourage the retirement tourism market and increase the crime reducing efforts. Economical measures would include the actual increased number of retirees, remittance and the total growth in GDP. Social measures would include an increase in programs to work with the community and create programs that would increase the retiree tourist market annually.

15. Relation of Trade Measure to Impact on Tourism:

Currently, it is estimated that 1.8 million Jamaicans live outside Jamaica and at some point in their lives mainly when they retire would want to return back home. These Jamaican are potential retired tourists over a period of 30 years. Additionally if crime is reduced and a policy is created where foreign retirees are marketed the potential growth to the tourism industry and the GDP. .

17. Economic Data:

The country derives most of its foreign exchange from tourism, remittances, and bauxite/alumina. Remittances have been compared to equaling the tourism industry and for this additional purpose it is important that policy is created to secure this stream of foreign exchange import into the country. The foreign currency received by the Bank of Jamaica through personal transfers between 1991 and 1997 exceeded the foreign currency earned in some of the traditional economic sectors (See Table 2).

Table 2

Year 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997

Remittances as a percentage of GDP 4.1 7.8 8.1 11.5 11.7 10.7 9.8

Bauxite as Percentage of GDP 3.1 2.8 2.2 1.8 1.5 1.4 1.2

Alumina as Percentage of GDP 14.7 14.8 14.8 13.9 13.6 11 10.5

Sugar as percentage of GDP 2.4 2.6 2.6 1.8 2.1 2 1.6

Source: Based on data from the Bank of Jamaica, Planning Institute of Jamaica, Economic and Social Survey, 1996 and 1997

Large sums of money are remitted in association with the retirees and intention to retire in Jamaica. Besides, they also continue to be in receipt of pensions and social security payments and other retirement benefits for the rest of their lives. This means that in many cases, returnees receive pensions from abroad in excess of twenty years following their return. Despite these and other large flows of funds that derive from the repatriation of the savings of returning migrants these persons have often not had the kind of support they need for re-entry into Jamaican society.

18. Impact of Trade Restriction:

The impact of any restrictions imposed on the retirement tourist market would be a decrease in the economy remittance that would decrease investment the GDP. In 1998 the customs statistics revealed that 7,212 Jamaican families ¬returned home bought with them items valuing $4.3 billion. According to Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade said while it was a known fact that overseas Jamaicans contribute significantly to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by way of remittances, it was important to also get them to be more actively involved in local affairs (Duty-free concessions, 2003).

19. Industry Sector:

The tourism industry in Jamaica is in general a thriving industry and is ranked within the top five of the world’s most favorite tourist destinations. Bauxite and alumina are other major industry exporters.

V. Macro/Environment Clusters/Tourism Policy Clusters

21. Environmental Problem Type/ Environmental Aspects:

An increase in crime and lack of measure to mitigate it will continue have a negative impact on the overall environment in Jamaica. Sekeno, just mention its overall impact on society at large. The Jamaican society will continue to have social problems that will affect all areas of the Jamaican society.

22. Resource Impact and Effect:

The returnees have formed approximately 30 associations of returning residents, which serve as a resource to new retirees. The associations create a social network, share information and experiences, informally track information and updates, create a platform to advocate for policy change and participate in community efforts such as fundraising for funds and materials from abroad to assist in various local social welfare projects. The Clarendon Association of Returning Residents as part of their community development efforts have launched a Skills Bank project to assess and document the expertise existing among members. Neighborhood watches have been created and the communities have become more vigilant in the security and safety of each other.

23. Urgency and Lifetime/Urgency and Policy Review

There is an urgent need to create policy to address the needs of the retirees soon, otherwise retired tourists will neither return or invest in the country cutting off the purse strings to the country’s economic stability. Additionally, if negative perceptions are shared among the second and third generation, the natural desire to want to return back home to their parent’s home would not be off interest and would be too late since they would sought other destination to visit as tourist and retire.

24. Substitutes/Alternative Policies:

An alternative policy would be to create a retirement only tourism communities; allowing both investors who create such communities and retirees who reside in these communities a tax break or funding

VI. Other Factors

25. Culture:

The Jamaican culture’s attitudes towards the retiree are one that is not wholly respected by all of the residents. The retirees have been referred to as thinking “they are better off” and some animosity has built up between the two groups. The culture is therefore strained and has created a fragmented community of the haves and have-not.

26. Trans-Boundary Issues:

Drug trafficking is a trans-boundary issue that permeates most of the crime in Jamaica. The Caribbean region share similar problems and deal with issue through CARICOM. CARICOM and other countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom are collaborating on the areas of training and providing resources to decrease the problem, although not specifically related to returnees. In addition to the retirees, there are now similar numbers of nationals abroad who have been returned by the authorities at the destination as ‘deportees’ since they have been convicted of criminal offences. In contrast to the returning residents, this group has a major negative impact on Jamaican society and places particular strain on the police and security services (Thomas-Hope, 1999).

27. Rights:

The Rights of the retirees are the same of the local residents and other tourist to be ensured of a safe and secure environment.

28. Relevant Literature and References

Albuquerque, K. and McElroy, J. (1999). Tourism and crime in the Caribbean. Annals of Tourism Research, 26(4), 968-984.

Chevannes, B. (2001). Crime peace and justice in Jamaica – A transformative approach. Retrieved March 10, 2005

Duty-free concessions to continue for returning residents, says Government. (2003, May 7). Jamaica Gleaner. Retrieved March 25, 2005 from http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20030507/news/news1.html

Jamaica Information Service Home page. (2005). Retrieved March 25, 2005 from http://www.jis.gov.jm/

Jamaicans Re-emigrate. (2001, January 9). Jamaica Gleaner. Retrieved March 28, 2005, from http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20010109/lead/lead1.html

Lowe, C. (2002) NCB Jamaica Ltd. Shareholder’s Meeting, Jamaica Pegasus. Retrieved April 7, 2004 from http://www.jncb.com/docs/MDs_SPEECH_SHAREHOLDERS_MEETING.pdf

McCalla Sobers, Y. (2005). There can be no peace without justice. Jamaica Gleaner. Retrieved 3/26/05 from /http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20050326/letters/letters1.html

Pelfrey, W. (1998). Tourism and Crime: A Preliminary Assessment of the Relationship of Crime to the Number of Visitors at Selected Sites. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice 22(2), 293-304

Pizam, A., Mansfield, Y. (Eds.). (1996). Tourism and Crime and International Security. London and New York: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

Pizam, A., Tarlow, P. and Bloom, J. (1997) Making Tourist Feel Safe: Whose Responsibility Is It? Journal of Travel Research.

Planning Institute of Jamaica. (2002). Economic and Social Survey Jamaica 2001. Kingston, Jamaica: PIJ

Robertson disputes on returning residents” (2001, January 11). Jamaica Gleaner. Retrieved March 31, 2005 from http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20010111/news/news3.html

Sanders, R. (2003). Crime in the Caribbean. The Roundtable. 377-390.

Thomas-Hope, E. (1999). Return Migration to Jamaica and its Development Potential. International Migration. (37)1, 183-207

Virtue, E. (1999, December 5). Jamaicans staying away from home. Jamaica Gleaner. Retrieved March 31, 2005 from http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20011205/news/news3.html

VII. Conclusion

29. Policy Implications:

If Jamaica decides to adopt a policy that will address the needs of the retirees the implications may be that the demand of this group of tourists would not meet the demands of the supply in terms of housing and healthcare.

30. Recommendations:

In order to maintain the steady growth of the retirement tourist market in Jamaica, it is imperative to recognize this group as a special market within the tourism industry and reduce crime safely throughout the island. In order to better serve the needs of this group the following is needed: a full assessment; training and marketing; and incentives and infrastructure.

A full assessment:

Survey prospective retirees of Jamaican nationality in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada;

Survey current retirees from the United States, United Kingdom and Canada and;

Survey returning residents who have emigrated back to their host country to find out the reasons for their departure and screen for potential interest for their return.

Training and marketing:

Educate the stakeholder about the history of each group, their roles and responsibilities in order to achieve the main goal of increasing the tourism market and reducing violent crimes.

Encourage continued collaboration among the stakeholders to partake in a focus group or summit to discuss the issue and begin discussion for problem solving;

Promote vigilance and educate the public about the retirement tourism market and;

“Return Back Home” positive appeal through specific marketing and public relations efforts.

Creating incentives and infrastructure:

Create greater incentives under the tax-free policy and;

Ensure and increase security and police vigilance in the densely populated retirement tourism communities.

Because of the interdependence of all of these efforts, timing is crucial and collaboration is important.