EDITORIAL - Ocho Rios in crisis

Mrs Vinnette Robb-Oddman, the chairman of the St Ann Parish Council, may claim recency in office as the reason for her failure so far to seriously address the problems of the most important economic town in her domain.

But should Mrs Robb-Oddman, and for that matter, the national Government, in particular, the tourism minister, Mr Ed Bartlett, not recognise it, Ocho Rios is on the cusp of, if not already in, a crisis, the impact of which will be felt by the country at large.

Ocho Rios is one of the towns on Jamaica's north-shore tourism belt. It is a resort town with an estimated 9,000 hotel rooms and a cruise ship pier.

An obvious interpretation of these facts is that Ocho Rios is important to the national economy. The town generates a substantial amount of foreign exchange and is a place where thousands of people find tourism-related jobs.

Much of this, unfortunately, is being lost. And there are signs that things could grow worse, unless there is an emergence of serious and cooperative leadership in the town, underpinned by strategic support from the Golding administration.

Declining number of cruise ship calls

Indeed, tourism problems are reflected in the declining number of cruise ship calls to its port and the number of passengers they bring.

For example, in 2006, approximately 841,000 cruise passengers landed in the town. By 2010, that figure was down to a bit over 609,000 - a decline of more than 27 per cent. This year, arrivals will drop by perhaps another one-third.

This decline in tourism is being reflected in very telling ways, like the empty stores and shuttered restaurants in tourism malls. Those that remain open, as the town's business leaders highlighted during a forum hosted by this newspaper on Monday, are doing less business.

An easy, and a not-altogether incorrect explanation for Ocho Rios' decline, is the opening of the cruise ship pier farther west along the coast, at Falmouth, Trelawny, developed by the Jamaican Government and Carnival Cruise Lines. It is gleaming and modern and can host today's megaliners.

But Falmouth is not entirely the cause of Ocho Rios' decline. That, in large part, is a failure of leadership at several levels, as well as inappropriate policy action by Mr Bartlett.

In need of a good scrub

Ocho Rios is a bustling, gritty little place that could do with a good scrub, several gallons of paint and a decent gardener for its public spaces. It is not the kind of place, if they have a choice, that many people would want to spend their holidays, or a day strolling about during a port call by a cruise ship.

Unfortunately, neither Mrs Robb-Oddman nor her predecessor, Mr Ivan Anderson, or for that matter, the entire parish council, seems to have noticed. The cruise passengers have told the shipowners of their discontentment, who were pulling their vessels long before this year's opening of the Falmouth pier.

All need not be lost if Ocho Rios finds a champion, and local government assumes its responsibility and partners with the private sector for the town's recovery.

Mr Barlett, at the same time, must reverse his dismantling of the resort boards that worked so effectively in addressing the problems of Ocho Rios and the other tourism regions. There is a tourism development plan for the town in his ministry that Mr Bartlett might find useful.