Go Lean Commentary
… this is an American-English idiom meaning “beware of unguarded talk”. The phrase originated on propaganda posters during World War II.[4] There are similar expressions in other cultures:
The British equivalent used “Careless Talk Costs Lives“, and variations on the phrase “Keep mum“,[5] while in neutral Sweden the State Information Board promoted the wordplay “en svensk tiger” (the Swedish word “tiger” means both “tiger” and “keeping silent”), and Germany used “Schäm Dich, Schwätzer!” (English: “Shame on you, blabbermouth!”).[6]
Source: Retrieved 04-07-2017 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loose_lips_sink_ships
Despite the land or the language, the thought is the same: Inappropriate talk can undermine societal engines.
Today, there is no war in the Caribbean, but we do have battles. We have trade wars and economic struggles to try and maintain our way of life and to improve it. For so many of our countries, tourism is the primary economic driver – our regional ship – we have to be on guard and aware of any kind of disparaging talk that can undermine the appeal of our destinations.
The United States is suffering the dire consequence of “loose lips sinking ships” right now. The new President – Donald Trump – has made disparaging remarks about certain foreign groups, and then introduced policies that reinforce his disdain for these foreigners.
As a result, more and more foreigners are refusing to come to the US for leisure travel. See the full article here:
Title: NYC Expects fewer tourists, blames Trump
NYC & Company, New York’s tourism marketing organization, revised its 2017 travel forecast, stating that it expects 300,000 fewer international visitors than last year “in light of the recent travel ban and related rhetoric.”
“These updated figures take into account changing attitudes about travel and access to the U.S. since the previous forecast was announced in October 2016, prior to the new administration,” NYC & Company said in a statement issued on Tuesday. “This is the first drop in visitation since the start of the recession in 2008.”
The city anticipates that domestic visitation will remain strong, projected to increase to 49.3 million visitors this year, which would actually result in an overall visitor increase, from 60.7 million to 61.7 million.
“But, it’s important to note that it takes the spending power of four domestic visitors to equal what a single international visitor spends,” NYC & Company stated.
With the updated forecast, NYC & Company announced a new international communications and marketing campaign titled “New York City — Welcoming the World.” Beginning in March, the campaign will feature outdoor media valued at nearly $3 million targeting international source markets the United Kingdom, Mexico, Germany, and Spain, with more markets pending. International partners, including tour operators and airlines, are expected to help further the effort through their own channels and assets.
“The goal of the campaign is to reassure international travelers who may feel deterred about traveling to the U.S. and ensure them that New York City’s experiences and values remain the same and all are welcome,” the destination marketing organization stated.
The revised 2017 travel forecast was produced by the organization’s longtime data provider, Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics Company.
USA
Interest in travel to the US has “fallen off a cliff” since Donald Trump’s election, according to travel companies who have reported a significant drop in flight searches and bookings since his inauguration and controversial travel ban.Data released this week by travel search engine Kayak reported a 58% decline in searches for flights to Tampa and Orlando from the UK, and a 52% decline in searches for Miami. Searches for San Diego were also down 43%, Las Vegas by 36% and Los Angeles 32%.
Though flight prices are holding firm (they usually take weeks rather than days to adjust to consumer trends), Kayak has identified a knock-on effect on average hotel prices. It found prices in Las Vegas are down by 39% and New York City by 32%.
Source: Travel Trade Outbound Scandinavia; posted 03/05/2017; retrieved 04/07/2017 from: http://www.ttoscandinavia.com/expects-fewer-tourists-blames-trump/————
See the related VIDEO in the Appendix below.
Nobody wants to spend their money in a place where they are not welcomed.
This lesson must be learned in the Caribbean. We have the same threats afoot. Unlike the US, who has the leverage and surety of “richest Single Market economy in the world” to absorb the fall, the Caribbean member-states are mostly Third World and failing. This movement has previous detailed how societal deficiency has resulted in a Brain Drain among the educated classes in the Caribbean homeland – all due to “push and pull” reasons. Yet, some leaders – Christian pastors in this case – have proclaimed, in a signed petition to this new American President, a heightened level of disdain for certain American tourists. They are protesting the US Human Rights agenda to seek relief for Caribbean populations with affinity for persons ascribing to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans-Gender (LGBT) lifestyles.
Rather than love and leisure … in the Caribbean, these community leaders are projecting “a climate of hate”.
So sad!
See the details on the signed petition in the Appendix below; advocating against liberal LGBT policies.
In general, neutralizing the anti-LGBT attitudes has been an ongoing theme for the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean. The book presents the Caribbean region a roadmap to elevate all societal engines, including economics, homeland security and governance. In fact, the prime directives of the roadmap includes the following 3 statements:
- Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
- Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety for all and protect the resultant economic engines.
- Improve Caribbean governance for all people, even minority groups, to support these economic and security engines.
The Go Lean book introduces the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) as an intergovernmental agency for 30 regional member-states, to provide a better – technocratic – stewardship for the regional economy.
But we need all community stakeholders to “not sink ships” with their unbridled hatred and disdain for people who may look, act and speak differently than them.
This is the hallmark of hospitality! See the full definition of “hospitality” here:
Etymology
Derives from the Latin hospes,[5] meaning “host”, “guest”, or “stranger”. Hospes is formed from hostis, which means “stranger” or “enemy” (the latter being where terms like “hostile” derive). By metonymy the Latin word ‘Hospital’ means a guest-chamber, guest’s lodging, an inn.[6] Hospes is thus the root for the English words “host” (where the p was dropped for convenience of pronunciation), hospitality, hospice, hostel and hotel.Historical practice
In ancient cultures hospitality involved welcoming the stranger and offering him food, shelter, and safety.[7]
Source: Retrieved April 7, 2017 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospitality.
The Art and Science of Tourism – especially for American visitors – is very important to Caribbean communities. The related industrial activities bind all societal engines together. The Go Lean book explains (Page 190) that many enhancements are to be implemented under this roadmap:
10 Ways to Improve Tourism – Page 190
1 | Lean-in for the CU to leverage a regional footprint for tourism promotion and infrastructure. The full scale of 30 member-states and 42 million people allows for expanded trade treaties with other countries and regional blocs to target markets and languages. |
2 | Special Festival Events |
3 | Fairgrounds/Amusement Parks Empowerment Zones |
4 | Dynamic Sea-lifts / Air lifts |
5 | Excess Inventory Auction |
6 | Medical Tourism |
7 | Eco-Tourism Promotions Board |
8 | Sports Tourism |
9 | Cruise Line Passenger Smart Card Currency |
10 | Tourist Hate Crime Sentence ExtenderAny crime against a tourist gets a “hate” crime designation that results in extended sentences. These types of crimes (petty misdemeanors to felonies like kidnapping) come under the category of economic crimes that are marshaled by the CU. (The 2005 Aruba case of Natalee Holloway shows the need for heightened attention. The investigation escalated to the Dutch National Police and the US FBI, but only after devastating effects on tourism bookings, for subsequent years). |
Overall, the Go Lean book stresses the community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to reboot, reform and transform the economic engines of Caribbean society.
There are a lot of new jobs that are at stake with the successful implementation of this Go Lean/CU roadmap. How many are projected?
In general the roadmap projects 2.2 million new jobs across the 30 Caribbean member states. But for the Tourism-related industries, the plan calls for:
Tourism – New markets, opening new opportunities and new traffic; sharing – 30,000
Cruise Tourism – Jobs from increased functionality of e-Payments of cruise passengers – 800
Events Tourism – Festivals and other event staff at CU Fairgrounds – 9,000
Fairgrounds – Direct & in-direct maintenance/support jobs at CU Fairgrounds – 10,000
World Heritage Sites/Eco-Tourism – Direct and indirect jobs for managing, promoting UNESCO sites – 1,000
In total, the projection is for 50,800 new tourism-related jobs. This constitutes the “ship” that community leaders can “sink” with their “loose lips”.
The Go Lean book asserts that to thrive in the new global marketplace there must be an agile technocratic administration for the region’s tourism eco-systems; it will affect all aspects of Caribbean life. This comprehensive view – economics, security and governance – is the charge of the Go Lean roadmap, opening with these pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 11 – 13):
iv. Whereas the natural formation of the landmass is in a tropical region, the flora and fauna allows for an inherent beauty that is enviable to peoples near and far. The structures must be strenuously guarded to protect and promote sustainable systems of commerce paramount to this reality.
xii. Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation of the human and civil rights of the people for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law. As such, any threats of a “failed state” status for any member state must enact emergency measures on behalf of the Federation to protect the human, civil and property rights of the citizens, residents, allies, trading partners, and visitors of the affected member state and the Federation as a whole.
xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.
The points of effective, technocratic stewardship of tourism were further elaborated upon in previous blog/commentaries. Consider this sample:
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11208 | Bahamas flawed model for Event Tourism – Junkanoo Carnival |
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11033 | Dominican Republic’s flawed model for Medical Tourism |
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10585 | Two Pies: Economic Plan for a New Caribbean |
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7977 | Transformations: Perfecting Our Core Competence |
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7834 | Martinique: Model for Sports Tourism |
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7628 | ‘Make happy those who are near, and those who are far will come’ |
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7327 | Zika – A 4-Letter Word for Caribbean Tourism |
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7082 | The Art and Science of ‘Play’ |
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7034 | The Future of Money for Tourism Commerce |
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6385 | Wi-Fi Hot Spots Run By Hackers Are Targeting Tourists |
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6341 | Tourism Commerce Administration and Coordination |
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5307 | Crime Warnings for a Tourists to a Caribbean Member-State |
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5210 | Cruise Ship Commerce – Getting Ready for Change |
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4145 | Model of Monument and Eco-Tourism |
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4058 | Bad Image in New York Times Hurts Caribbean Tourism |
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3225 | Caribbean less competitive due to increasing aviation taxes |
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1984 | Casinos Changing/Failing Business Model |
http://www.goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=235 | Tourism’s changing profile |
In a previous blog-commentary, the dynamic of Christian leadership in the Caribbean was fully explored:
Religious orthodoxy is responsible for a lot of harm in the world, and in the Caribbean. The Go Lean movement (book and blogs) have identified the foregoing defects, many bad values, attitudes and community ethos. The Caribbean region needs to desist and make amends of these practices. We need to pursue an alternative ethos, the Greater Good. The book defines this (Page 37) as follows:
“It is the greatest good to the greatest number of people which is the measure of right and wrong”. – Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)
The Go Lean book (Page 20) and movement advocates the community ethos of the Greater Good for all of the Caribbean. The movement wants to help reform and transform the Caribbean. We see the defects; we recognize that status quo, including the root causes and orthodoxy of many of our influences; we perceive the harmful effects. Still, we don’t want to ban religion; we simply want a clear ‘Separation of Church and State’, because … we must not favor any one religion.
A “Separation of Church and State” is the standard in the advanced democracies; this is now embedded in the implied Social Contract. The Go Lean book defines (Page 170) the Social Contract as follows:
“Citizens surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the State in exchange for protection of remaining natural and legal rights”.
The movement behind the Go Lean book hereby makes this urging to the Caribbean Pastors who signed the below petition to President Trump:
We urge you to follow the mandates of your founder and leader, Jesus Christ, when he urged the Apostle Simon-Peter:
- Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus told him, “Shepherd My sheep”. – June 21:16 Berean Study Bible
You are hereby admonished to support your flock that is in your care … and leave Foreign Policy alone. Your “going beyond the things that are written” actually hurts your flock by undermining their economic interests. Please, please “stay in your lane”.
Learn lessons from the bad example of Donald Trump and American tourism … in the foregoing.
Now is the time for all of the Caribbean – the people and leaders – to lean-in for the empowerments described here-in and in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. This is about jobs and community welfare today and more so tomorrow; we need better engines to make our region more prosperous. We can elevate our communities and our tourism!
It is conceivable, believable and achievable to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. 🙂
Sign the petition to lean-in for the roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.
Download the free e-book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!
———–
Appendix – Petition Letter to President Trump
Click on the Photo to Enlarge
The full letter and petition signatures can be viewed here:
———–
Appendix VIDEO – Tourists Avoiding USA Because Of Donald Trump, Costing Us Billions – https://youtu.be/kHD73jSM5Rs
Published on Apr 3, 2017 – Experts had predicted that Trump’s Muslim Ban would cost the United States tons of money in declining tourism, but what they didn’t count on were the number of people who refuse to travel to the U.S. just because Trump is the new president. As it turns out, nobody wants to visit a country that is ruled by a hatemonger, and analysts are now referring to the decline in travel to the U.S. as the “Trump Slump.” Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.
Link – https://www.salon.com/2017/03/31/trum…
Spread the word! LIKE and SHARE this video or leave a comment to help direct attention to the stories that matter. And SUBSCRIBE to stay connected with Ring of Fire’s video content!
Watch America’s Lawyer featuring Mike Papantonio on RT: https://www.rt.com/shows/americas-law…
Order Mike Papantonio’s novel Law and Disorder today: https://www.amazon.com/Law-Disorder-M…
Follow more of our stories at http://www.TROFIRE.com
Subscribe to our podcast: http://www.ROFPodcast.com
Support Ring of Fire by subscribing to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/golefttv…
Be sociable! Follow us on:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RingofFireRadio
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/RingofFireRadio
Google+: http://plus.google.com/11841583157319…
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ringoffiren…
- Category: News & Politics
- License: Standard YouTube License