By Erica James-King, Staff Reporter 
WESTERN BUREAU:
ALTHOUGH THE winter tourist season is only seven days old, craft traders in St. James are lamenting that business is sluggish and that Government has not kept its promises to put in place certain measures before the start of the season.
The Harbour Street Craft Traders Association in Montego Bay point to the incomplete paint job on the craft market, the non-implementation of the landscaping project at that facility, the ramshackle perimeter fence and the leaking roofs as signs that Government has fallen short in fulfilling its promises to overhaul the infrastructure of that facility.
"We were assured that all these new measures to enhance the craft market and therefore attract more tourists to the market would have been completed by the first day in December. However, that deadline came and went and the December 15 start of the tourist season came and went and Government has still not kept its promises," laments Melody Haughton, president of the Harbour Street Craft Market Association (HSCMA).
But the cash crunch being experienced by the Government has put a damper on some plans for the Harbour Street Craft market.
Michael Muirhead, acting executive director of the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) says at least $700,000 is needed to undertake the fencing but plans have hit a snag.
"We are a little stalled, because of the Government's position in terms of funding, in terms of doing the fence which is the outstanding issue that we need to do," disclosed Mr. Muirhead in an interview with The Gleaner Tuesday.
He further explained, "I am hoping that we may get it done, if not by the end of this year, very early in January."
He is also hoping that the fence upgrading work for the market can be put to tender early next year.
DEADLINE
On the matter of improvement that has taken effect for the over 200 craft traders at the Harbour Street Craft Market, Mr. Muirhead is of the view that the authorities "have substantially met the deadline" for upgrading the Harbour Street facility.
He cites the massive clean-up and power-washing of the market, the training of craft vendors and the licensing of craft vendors as initiatives which have been completed since the State Minister for Tourism Dr. Wykeham McNeill announced plans in October, for overhauling that craft market.
"About 80 per cent of the craft traders have already been trained and have already received their licences or are currently being processed for licences," said Mr. Muirhead. Just last week alone, some 25 craft traders in that facility received their licences.
Despite these initiatives, the vendors continue to paint a picture of anaemic sales. They noted that even though history was created when cruise ship passenger-arrivals in Montego Bay surpassed the 300,000 mark for the first time ever in
a calendar year, craft vendors have not benefited.
"The tourist adds are just not buying our things but they seem to be buying from the In-Bond shops," complained Melody Haughton yesterday. "I think much more can be done by the Government and the other players in the tourist industry, to facilitate more flow of visitors to this craft market and others in Montego Bay."
