Paradise Lost: A Planner's View of Jamaican Tourist Development

Abstract

AbstractMost of Jamaica's tourism development has occured on the north coast, more recently spreading to Negril at the western tip of the Island. Ribbon development, largely associated with tourism, has transformed much of this coastal strip, and proposals for a new resort at Whitehouse, Westmoreland, have raised concerns about thepossible extension of tourism blight to the relatively unspoiled south coast.Jamaica's coastal tourism development has been criticised for its lack of good planning and its detrimental impact on the environment, and planners, environmentalists and journalists are among those who have expressed fears that the Jamaican tourist industry has failed to learn from the mistakes of the past.This article draws largely on Jamaican newspaper reports of sometimes highly controversial tourism development schemes, and on the author's personal observationsand professional experience of planning and development in Jamaica since the late sixties.