THE RESULT of a recent British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) poll asking Britons about the '50 things we really want to do before we die', has at least one local Jamaican attraction ecstatic about the 'unexpected publicity' garnered from the survey.
Swimming with dolphins was the number one choice of the 20,000 persons polled, a result which has been generating a lot of international publicity for the Ocho Rios-based Dolphin Cove an attraction which offers visitors the opportunity to swim with the friendly sea mammals.
PHENOMENAL PUBLICITY FOR JAMAICA
"I have always known that swimming with the dolphins was a wonderful experience, but I didn't realise it would be the number one choice of fifty things people would want to do before they die," said a beaming Stafford Burrowes, owner of Dolphin Cove. "Someone faxed me a copy of the article which had the poll results and I was simply amazed. We have also been getting a lot of calls from people visiting Jamaica from England, asking about our facility. The publicity for us, and by extension Jamaica, has been phenomenal. I am sure all the facilities worldwide that offer swimming with the dolphins have benefited in one way or the other."
In addition to swimming with the dolphins, other activities on the wish list include scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef, fly Concorde to New York, go whale watching, dive with sharks, skydiving, fly in a hot balloon, fly in a fighter jet and go on a safari. The results of the survey was also recently screened this month on BBC TV.
Mr. Burrowes said that Dolphin Cove has been enjoying its fair share of the cruise shipping business, noting that "the season indeed looks very promising." He noted that as part of the Tourism Master Plan, the attraction has been engaged in a number of beautification projects, including a major cleaning up of the Ocho Rios beach.
