Quote Originally Posted by Jamaica Jeff View Post
I was simply shining light on the well known fact that the Jamaican government is quite quick to seek praise for its "efforts" in many situations when in fact most of those are sorted out by others and funded by others.

What's the British High Commissioner going to say in the midst of it all? The Jamaican government was not helpful?

As far as actual dollars? Come on Rob. Maybe you haven't flown to Canada or the U.S. lately and taken the time to look at the fees that the Jamaican government collects in various shapes and forms from airfare alone. ASTRONOMICAL! Don't tell me that their "human hours" is a significant expense relative to what they rake in from tourist generated fees not to mention the revenue from GCT directly and indirectly that each tourist contributes to the JA economy.
Jeff,

Could you please shed a little more light on your well known "fact" that the Jamaican government is quite quick to seek praise for its "efforts". I live here and have never read, heard or seen anything about this "fact".

The British High Commissioner is perfectly able to say what he means, and he did have the choice to say nothing. But he chose to say what he said.

Until November of this year, Jamaica has been under the economic rules of IMF which is controlled by the USA. Many of the taxes and fees at the airport are a direct consequence of the IMF. Departure fees for Caribbean countries range from $15 to $51, Jamaica being in the middle with $35. The US international departure tax is $18.60 with a whole slew of taxes and fees including flight segment, frequent flyer and even a DHS September 11 fee. Jamaica is far from unique or astronomical in it's fees.

The TEF fee is a tourist charged fee going directly back to the tourism areas in the form of upgrades such as the sidewalk on Norman Manley and the added street lights without raising the taxes on the average Jamaican.

And I feel that Jamaican human hours are worth just as much as the human hours in any other country.

As for the GCT, that is worth a whole discussion on its own and can be exceedingly boring. But to keep this easy, the sales tax in NYC can be as high as 18.375% with Jamaica at 16.5%.