By Devon Evans, Gleaner WriterOCHO RIOS:
PAUL PENNICOOK, Director of Tourism, expressed 'deep concern' on Saturday, about the dirty state of the resort town of Ocho Rios, saying that it was discouraging to future tourism growth.
Speaking at the annual awards banquet of the St. Ann Chamber of Commerce, at the Renaissance Jamaica Grande Resort, Ocho Rios, Mr. Pennicook said the town could end up losing out on potential visitors because of its current unattractive state.
He stressed the importance of the town being cleaned up, adding that visitors may not be inclined to want to return to a place that lacks aesthetic appeal.
"In that regard, we need to get Ocho Rios cleaned up. It is simply not good enough," he said.
Mr. Pennicook said it was imperative that members of the St. Ann Chamber of Commerce as well as tourism interests, including political representatives, take immediate steps to get Ocho Rios into much better shape.
He said the country needed to ensure that the tourism product was in such a state that "every visitor who comes here is impressed with not only the service at the hotel, or the food, but the entire product, including the cleanliness of the resort area, that will encourage them to always come back." A cleaner Ocho Rios, he said, would make the job easier to convince the thousands of cruise ship visitors to the resort town "to come back as long-stay visitors."
Mr. Pennicook said he dreamt of the day when Main Street in Ocho Rios could become a pedestrian mall and he urged members of the St. Ann Chamber of Commerce and other citizens to play their part in cleaning up the town. "I urge you, St. Ann Chamber of Commerce and every citizen, to lobby the powers that be to work with the Member of Parliament, your Parish Council, whatever entity, and let's try to make the product pristine. Let's try to make the product so attractive that every single one of our visitors will have no choice but to want to absolutely run back to visit us in Jamaica."
Also, he urged members of the chamber to capitalise on the increasing visitor arrivals to the island and to make tourism an even bigger business.
Pauline Haughton, president of the St. Ann Chamber of Commerce, said the Chamber was equally concerned about the state of Ocho Rios as a prime tourist destination. She said that a major cleaning up was something her organisation was fully committed to doing.
