TPDCo Implements Measures to Prevent Tourist Harassment
Tourist harassment is a big Jamaican problem. It has plagued the cruise ship ports of Ocho Rios, Montego Bay and is threatening to undermine the success of the Falmouth Port.
Related: Falmouth Pride launched to counter visitor harassment.
The Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) has finally shown a proactive response from the government. They have by implementing several anti-harassment measures here in Falmouth and other tourist towns islandwide.
From the JIS:
The Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) has implemented anti-harassment initiatives and security measures to ensure a safe and hassle-free environment for tourists.
A major thrust launched last year was the Tourism District Constable programme, which saw 100 officers being deployed in the resort areas.
Another 100 constables were deployed with the discontinuation of the Tourism Courtesy Corps programme in May of this year.
Speaking at a JIS ‘Think Tank’ yesterday (August 29), Executive Director of TPDCo, Dr. Andrew Spencer, said that this programme was established from a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between TPDCo and the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), to prevent soliciting and harassment and to allow for the protection of the country, ensuring continued growth and sustainability of the tourism sector.
Some 50 district constables have now been assigned to Montego Bay, 45 in Negril, 44 in Ocho Rios, 22 in Falmouth, 13 in Kingston, and the remainder in Port Antonio and on the south coast.
The Executive Director informed that under the programme, the TPDCo has provided motor vehicles, handcuffs, radios and other necessary equipment for the constables to undertake their daily duties.
The district constables underwent the regular JCF training in addition to the Team Jamaica certification, which covered the history of Jamaica, customer service and tourism awareness.
In terms of the anti-harassment initiatives, Dr. Spencer said that beginning October, the TPDCo will be facilitating training for some 1,200 contract carriage operators in the Ocho Rios, Falmouth and Montego Bay resort areas.
The course, dubbed ‘Cultural Sensitivity Training’, entails understanding the importance of personal space, the value of tourism and anti-harassment practices.
Craft vendors in the various resort areas will also benefit from customer service and anti-harassment training through an initiative titled ‘Warm Welcome Campaign’ to be spearheaded by TPDCo, in partnership with The Travel Foundation (a charity that works in partnership with leading tourism organisations to improve the impacts of tourism and shape a positive future for destinations).
An anti-harassment video, dubbed ‘Cum Yah’, has been produced to further discuss the issue of harassment, its causes, effects and possible solutions, and also to get buy-in to the required attitude and behaviour changes.
The video will be a teaching tool at the various training and sensitisation sessions and will also be distributed to schools, youth groups and other associations in the resort areas.
Great Initiative
This is a Great Initiative. It is hoped that these measures will help reduce the level of harassment. The harassment comes from 3 main areas:
- Hustlers
- Craft vendors
- Travel guides/tour bus operators
This initiative will target all 3 sets of persons.
Related: The Main Reason Cruise Ship Visitors Stay Away From Falmouth and How To Get Visitors To Come To You
If the cruise lines and government didn’t scare most of the tourists away from the downtown area there would be a lot more tourists for the vendors to sell to so they wouldn’t be so aggressive and desperate for a sale. Give them some training for sure but stop keeping the tourists away from them.
A simple case of demand and supply, huh Linda?