By Denise Clarke, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
NEW SECURITY measures to be introduced on Thursday at the cruise shipping pier in Ocho Rios have irked tour operators in the resort town, who have vowed that they will not be complying with them.
A last-minute cancellation of a meeting scheduled for yesterday evening between the disgruntled tour operators and officials from the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo), the Ministry of Tourism and political representatives from the area has only served to further perturb the tour operators.
Under the new system, all areas just outside the Ocho Rios pier will be considered sterile, and tour operators will no longer be allowed to park there. Instead, they are being relocated to a holding area on Evelyn Street in the town, where between six and 10 operators will be dispatched to the pier using a ticketing system.
The Ministry said the system is in keeping with new international requirements which mandate Jamaica to implement security measures in light of international terrorist threats.
According to public relations officer at the Ministry of Tourism, Prudence Barnes, the meeting was cancelled as the Ministry felt that the concerns raised by the tour operators had been settled in a meeting held on Saturday.
President of the Ocho Rios-based Maxi Taxi Association, Hewson Edwards, said the members of his association would not be complying with the new regulations. "We will not go there," Mr. Edwards declared. "We were invited to a meeting and we stated our position. We don't protest the security measures but we strongly protest the location they are planning to put us."
