Tourists escape armed robbers
Published:Saturday | July 3, 2021 | 4:01 PM
Vana Taylor, chairperson for the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) Ocho Rios Runaway Bay Chapter, has condemned Thursday's attempted robbery of two tourists who had gone horseback riding in the Laughing Waters area of St Ann.
Reports are that Jordan Reid, 30, a fire fighter of White Palm, and Marcus Coleman, 29, of Baltimore, both in the USA, were on vacation at the Excellence Hotel in Trelawny and made the trip to St Ann for the popular activity.
They were approached by armed masked men who demanded that they hand over their belongings.
An alarm was raised and the gunmen made their escape.
No one was hurt doing the incident, the police later confirmed.
“It's a cause for concern, but I'm happy no one was hurt,” Taylor told The Gleaner.
She said the incident will be raised at the next meeting of the chapter.
Jamaica's tourism sector is slowly returning to normal after being severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the closure of the country's border in March last year.
While the figure for stopover visitors is trending up, cruise ship arrivals are still on pause.
However, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett recently stated that based on current projections, he expects a full return of the cruise industry between August and October.
- Carl Gilchrist
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