Coronavirus: 90% of Jamaica's tourism workers have been laid off

Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett joins Yahoo Finance’s Zack Guzman to discuss the outlook on travel for the country, as 90% of Jamaica's tourism workers have been laid off due to the outbreak.

Video Transcript

ZACK GUZMAN: Welcome back to live market coverage here on "Yahoo Finance." Right now, we are seeing the Dow is struggling to get back to where it was this morning, now off more than 2%, a 500-point decline here, coming off one of the worst days we've seen for stocks in the last seven sessions. We'll keep you updated on those market moves.

But meantime, we're digging into the way that some countries around the world that are heavily dependent on tourism are battling this lockdown and peel back tied to the coronavirus crisis. One of those countries would be Jamaica. It's a country that sees tourism account for more than 10% of the country's GDP.

And as a result of the crisis, we are seeing a huge slowdown in terms of workers over there. As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, 90% of the country's workers in its tourism sector have been laid off, a shocking number when you think about it. But they are still hopeful that they could have a return to travel to that country, as people begin to shift into thinking about how they can travel safely.

And for more on that, we're joined by Jamaica's Minister of Tourism today. Edmund Bartlett joins us now on the show. And Mr. Bartlett, thanks so much for joining us. I'm sure you've got a lot to be taking care of right now, with those many workers affected here. But talk to us just about how important tourism is for your country and what you're thinking about and plans to keep visitors safe there.

EDMUND BARTLETT: Thank you very much, Zack. Tourism is the lifeblood of our economy. It represents a little over 10% of GDP directly. And indirectly, it's more like 30%. It employs 170,000 people, which is just about 20% of all the people employed directly. And then, of course, indirect and induced is another 200,000 or so.

What it means therefore is that every single sector in the economy is driven in one way or another by tourism activities. Because the manufacturers are the suppliers of the industry. They are the-- cultural farmers are the suppliers also of the food and drink and so on. So the services also.

So what you will see is that the impact is to get unemployment down, unfortunately, at a time when, you know, we can barely manage socially. So we have to respond and respond as quickly as we can to build out the protocols that will make our visitors feel safe and secure, and more importantly, to make us feel safe and secure.

Because it's about the destination being COVID resilient. It is the destination making sure that the COVID security equipment that are required to secure the safety of visitors are in place. And so we have been working vigorously on a protocol which covers all the touch points to ensure destination assurance in Jamaica.

ZACK GUZMAN: Yeah, and I guess it's kind of the questions right now, because I understand that a lot of these destinations hotels are being used right now for Jamaicans to struggle with this issue right now, seeing a lot of the same problems when you think about where you're going to put people affected by this, populations here dealing with the same questions, often turning to hotels as well.

So I mean, how long-- what's the timeline that you're seeing things return to normal on the island of Jamaica and your expectations for some travelers to start returning to the country?

EDMUND BARTLETT: Well, normal-- a normalcy has become more of a moving target around the world. And it's no different here. But what we're seeing is a flattening of the curve, of course, and [INAUDIBLE] is down to 1.2, which is good. And we think that within another few weeks, we'll be in the less than 1, which will be ready for opening in a substantial way.

So we see summer as an important theoretical look at reopening for tourism, while as we are creating a whole program of schedules for other sectors to be open. And eventually, I think by October, November, all being equal, they are continuing the trend that it is, Jamaica should be open for full business.

ZACK GUZMAN: Yeah, you talk about-- I mean, there's the health concerns on one front, but when we talk about travel and everything else, there have been a lot of question marks about the rebound. I know Jamaica is heavily dependent on American tourist specifically here coming over and visiting.

Are you at all concerned that maybe you won't see necessarily as big of a recovery as Americans here or tourists around the world, really, I guess, struggle with questions about layoffs, you know, not having the necessary funds to actually travel to countries like Jamaica here in the aftermath of all this?

EDMUND BARTLETT: There is a concern, the American market being our largest. But there are some green shoots in terms of that. The analyses that are coming to us from the market suggests that domestic tourism will take priority in America, some 70% of the respondents saying so. But that of all the places in the world where they refuse to go, the Caribbean is on the top of the list of those places they will go.

And so there are 8% who are saying we will go to the Caribbean during this period. And 8% of the American visitors coming to the Caribbean is huge for us. Currently, we have just over two million Americans who come to Jamaica, but that represent less than 1% of the total number of Americans who travel across the world.

So we think that there is hope there once we get through the protocols, once the American people are ready to fly again, ready to travel externally, yes. Then there will comfortable that Jamaica will get its share of that market.

ZACK GUZMAN: Well, I mean, it's tough to think that it wouldn't happen here, as we just got snow over the weekend here in New York. I've been dreaming about Jamaica. But I want to appreciate you taking the time. Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica's Minister of Tourism, appreciate you taking the time, sir.

EDMUND BARTLETT: Thank you, Zack. I look forward to seeing you and welcoming you to Jamaica soon.

ZACK GUZMAN: Oh, man. Please don't tease me. I appreciate it. We'll see you soon.