TIPS has been on line for several months now and to say it has been a big success would be an understatement. Credit and much praise are due to the IS team here at the JTB, who have thrown themselves into the project with great enthusiasm.

TIPS' purpose is to provide the public with "everything they could conceivably want or need to know about Jamaica's tourism industry". Our users include representatives of the communications media, students and researchers, policy makers, hoteliers and general members of the public who have an interest in our sector. We have received, and responded to useful suggestions in its design and continue to welcome them.

The JTB prides itself on the accuracy of its statistical data and the promptness with which is has been known to appear each month. In April we suffered something of a setback, from which we have been steadily recovering: The merger of the Customs and Immigration forms created a difficulty for us. By law, Customs cannot relinquish control of its forms. Since it now appears on the back of the Immigration form, which we used to be permitted to take away for processing, we have had to set up a facility in Customs' offices in the Norman Manley International Airport and the Donald Sangster International Airport, where we now scan and export images of the cards for processing at a remote location. Getting this set up took time and training, which also created a backlog of work, which was further exacerbated by power outages caused by hurricane Dean. Thankfully, however, our team is made of sterner stuff and has been working diligently to get rid of the backlog, while maintaining normal output. They have been closing in and will soon be able to announce that we are able to produce statistical reports even more quickly than we had become so widely respected for. Kudos to Mrs. Antoinette Lyn and her great team.