By Devon Evans, Gleaner WriterOCHO RIOS, St. Ann:
OFFICIALS OF the Ministry of Tourism and the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) are preparing to welcome Jamaica's one millionth cruise ship visitor, a record for any one year.
The individual is scheduled to arrive in the island next week and the JTB has indicated that it will be a gala occasion. This milestone will be the high point on this year's JTB calendar, said board chairman Dennis Morrison.
"You will hear a lot more and the people will see a build-up of the event in the press," Mr. Morrison said in an interview with The Gleaner. He was not willing to go into detail about the celebration being planned by the JTB but said it will be a special occasion for the cruise shipping business.
"This year has been an excellent one for cruise shipping, and next year is expected to be even better with more new ships scheduled to call at Jamaican ports," he said.
SYSTEM WORKING SMOOTHLY
Discussing the new arrangements for ground transport operators at the cruise ship pier in Ocho Rios, the JTB chairman said the new system appeared to be working smoothly.
Mr. Morrison also said that concerns about security for visitors have been addressed with the deployment of additional police personnel in the various resort towns and said that, although they have been out on the streets for less than a week, the reaction of the business community had been encouraging.
Members of the Ocho Rios business community had complained that the withdrawal of members of the resort police patrol from security duties in the town on October 6, had resulted in the town being flooded with pimps, touts, drug pushers and harassers.
But yesterday, The Gleaner spoke with Ocho Rios businesswoman Jean Cargill, who reported that the harassers who had flooded into the resort a week before had disappeared with the arrival of the new team of police officers in the area.
