Susan Gordon, Staff Reporter
Charles Moore (left), a member of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, greets Christpher Dehring, managing director and chief executive officer for ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007, at the PSOJ's job creation awards at the Terra Nova Hotel yesterday. - RICARDO MAKYN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
NEARLY ALL the main hotels in Kingston and some of the larger ones along the North Coast have already been booked for the International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup 2007, said area chairman for Kingston Hotel Association, Nicola Madden-Greig, in an interview yesterday.
Managing director and chief executive officer of ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, Christopher Dehring, said people from all over the world are already meeting in hotels in Kingston and other towns to plan the World Cup. The competition is being organised by the ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007 Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the West Indies Cricket Board.
"People booked their spaces two years ago," he told Wednesday Business. He was speaking at the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica job creations awards presentation yesterday at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in St. Andrew.
BOOKING ROOMS
Mrs. Madden-Greig, who is also the sales and marketing director of the Courtleigh Hotel, said persons had been calling the hotel directly to book rooms for the event. She said the Rose Hall, Half Moon and the Sunset Jamaica Grande are some of the hotels in the northern part of the island which are already booked for the event.
The ICC may not necessarily look at the size of the hotel to determine which ones to book, she said. The hotel ratings may be more of a determinant because of the diverse background of the guests.
"We were actually booked from last year. That period has been closed out," a reservation officer at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel said, when asked whether rooms would be available during the period.
"There have been a whole lot of enquiries but we are not taking reservations yet," said Nellie Ann Lounge from the Hilton Kingston hotel.
Mrs. Madden-Greg says it may prove challenging for some hotels to book for the event on an individual basis outside of the ICC special package, because this may not guarantee tickets for the match to those booking rooms.
TOP PRIORITY
She said although the ICC has not yet appointed official travel agents to sell its special packages for the event, the hotels have been earmarked and are now waiting to make the specific room allocations once these travel agents have been appointed. Cricket officials and team members of the World Cup are being given top priority for the accommodation.
Wednesday Business also understands that the ICC selected travel agents will include travel, hotel accommodations and tickets for the matches in their packages.
Media relations officer at the ICC, Gail Alleyne, told Wednesday Business that authorised travel agents will be announced soon.
Matches in the competition will be held in Jamaica between March 5 and April 24 next year. The activities will officially commence in March with the opening ceremony, semi-finals and the West Indies' first round match taking place at Sabina Park, in Kingston. The warm-up matches are slated to take place at the Greenfield site in Trelawny.
