‘We can’t go another winter season without water’
JHTA Negril chair, operators say hotels face tourism decline, massive financial reduction if crisis continues
Published:Tuesday | May 7, 2024 | 12:11 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Accommodation stakeholders in Negril, which spans Westmoreland and Hanover, have declared that having spent over $200 million on water storage since March they will not be able to withstand the potential financial fallout from reduced guest bookings if the resort town’s ongoing water woes are not swiftly resolved.
Addressing a press conference at the Couples Swept Away Resort in Negril on Monday, Karen Lanigan, the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association’s (JHTA) Negril Chapter chairman, pointed to a survey conducted by her organisation which outlined that future bookings for hotels and resorts have been adversely affected by the water crisis.
“The JHTA did a survey with accommodation providers, in which we asked, ‘Has the water crisis affected your future bookings?’ and 71 percent of the hoteliers said yes and 29 per cent said no. We asked, ‘Has the water crisis affected your business financially?’ and 100 per cent of our hoteliers said yes,” Lanigan outlined.
“Since March, Negril hoteliers have spent over J$200 million on trucking water, and this is about 50 per cent more than what water usually costs them. It is a huge expense for the hotels of Negril, and it is a significant expense for a problem for which solutions were determined years ago,” Lanigan continued. “Twenty years ago we started talking about how we could get more water to Negril, and we are still here talking about it, and there has been no specific action happening at this time.”
Lanigan recommended that the planned development of a major water project in Negril, which was previously announced by Minister with responsibility for Water Matthew Samuda in April this year, must begin before the start of the upcoming winter tourist season.
“We cannot go through another winter season in the Negril area with no water. The financial implications are really serious for the businesses and the community of Negril, so what we are asking is to look at the plans that have been put in place and fast-forward them,” said Lanigan.
Emergency procurement
“Mr Samuda has spoken about a medium-term project costing US$186 million to get the water from Lucea to Green Island to Negril ... 18 per cent of that figure would have to be used to start the project, to get the project what it needs. We need this spend to be now to protect the lives and livelihoods of Negril,” Lanigan continued. “We need emergency procurement so that the project can be pushed through and done in a timely manner for us.”
Samuda had announced in April that plans were in place to mitigate the issue of water shortage for hotels along Jamaica’s north coast, including from western St James to western Westmoreland.
He indicated at the time that there was a US$209 million capital plan for the north coast that would take several years to implement, to include the replacement of pipelines from Martha Brae in Trelawny into St James, as well as replacement of the line from Rusea’s in Hanover going into Negril and interlinkages with all the rivers.
In the meantime, Sophia Grizzle-Roumel, owner and operator of the Negril-based Charela Inn, told Monday’s press briefing pointedly that resort operators will not be able to survive another year of delayed resolution to the water crisis as bookings will fall further if guests cannot be guaranteed consistent water supply in their resorts and hotels.
“My guests who normally book when they leave, they haven’t booked. They are asking us to confirm whether we can promise them that we will have water next year, and I am unable to promise my guests that we will have water … I cannot promise the guests, so they are not making any recommendations,” Grizzle-Roumel lamented.
“We can’t stop all the people who live in Negril, all the expat community, and all the Jamaicans putting it on social media, and everybody in the world knows we have no water in Negril; we can’t hide the fact that we have no water. Every year we improve the quality of our product, we have to repaint and refurbish, and we’re not going to be able to do that this year,” Grizzle-Roumel added. “It is going to affect our product as well. We cannot sustain this for another year, and the Minister [Samuda] is asking us to sustain this for another two years; it is impossible, we cannot survive.”