LESS THAN a week after being appointed Minister of Tourism, Aloun N'dombet Assamba is already being called upon to prioritise the development of the product in Montego Bay.
The call came from the newly-elected Mem-ber of Parliament for Northwest St. James, Dr. Horace Chang, who is urging the Minister to get to work immediately, and pay specific attention to the small hotel sector. "Whatever happens in the marketing arm of the Tourist Board is just not working for the small hotels and (they) are a very important part of the mix in Montego Bay. Between the villas and the small hotels, I suspect that they may have 40 per cent of our rooms if not more... so something has to be done to revitalise that part of the market which affects the villas and the small hotels," he said.
The new MP has suggested increased marketing of the small hotels and villas, along with refinancing to allow the owners to bring their properties up to a competitive standard with the larger hotels. However, while stressing that small hotels need to be brought into the industry, Dr. Chang warned that the large all-inclusive properties must not be excluded from marketing thrust. "It has to do with marketing. They also will need refinancing in terms of developing the quality of the product that they offer because many of them have now disappeared because of the hard time they have gone through. Of course, this cannot be done at the expense of the all-inclusives but the small hotels must be a part of the product," he contended.
Dr. Chang is also urging Mrs. Assamba to work with the St. James Parish Council to keep the city clean and attractive, in keeping with its status as major a tourist destination. "It would seem, from my own investigation, that the parochial fund, which was designed to keep the town clean and attractive, has not been playing that role because much of the money that we should get from the fees and the property taxes have not been returned... so in fact, Montego Bay remains pretty unkempt and unsightly for a destination of its importance. That area, while not coming directly under the Ministry of Tourism needs to be addressed by the Minister in consultation with her colleagues in local government," he said.
