No time for cruising
Published:Monday | February 7, 2011 | 12:00 AM
McNeill bats for modernisation of Ocho Rios, MoBay ports
Says Gov't must preserve passenger arrivals in 'old' marinas
Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Opposition spokesman on Tourism, Dr Wykeham McNeill, is standing by his statement that cruise-ship arrivals to Ocho Rios, St Ann, and Montego Bay in St James this year will see declining traffic.
In a release yesterday, McNeill said he wants Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett and Transport and Works Minister Mike Henry to stop "huffing and puffing" and ensure Montego Bay and Ocho Rios cruise ports are modernised and put in a position to attract increased traffic.
He was responding to a Sunday Gleaner article in which Bartlett described McNeill's statements as "political and hypocritical", noting that he was tourism minister under the administration that devised the Falmouth pier project.
McNeill made the suggestions at the recent Stocks and Securities Limited forum on cruise shipping.
He pointed out that this year, with the coming on stream of this new pier, the ports of Ocho Rios and Montego Bay would see declines in cruise passenger arrivals. He estimates that both resort towns could suffer a loss of 30 to 50 per cent of what they are used to getting in cruise-ship passengers.
"It is projected that Ocho Rios could get 490,000 visitors, down from a high of 800,000 in 2006, and Montego Bay - 268,000 passengers," he said.
On the other hand, the business Falmouth will get is projected to attract 430,000 cruise-ship visitors. The town's first ship will call there on February 17.
Threat of diversion
Criticising the two government ministers, McNeill said it had been known for some time that with the coming on stream of the new pier in Falmouth, there was a potential threat of a diversion of traffic from Ocho Rios and Montego Bay if work was not done on new marketing initiatives and infrastructural development of these ports.
Noting that he could not and would not make disparaging remarks or disown the Falmouth project, he said the pier, like the Montego Bay Convention Centre, was a project conceptualised, planned and organised by the People's National Party government as conceded by Bartlett in his statement.
"What I did was bring to attention ... that in the implementation of the Falmouth project there are some negatives."
Bartlett, who was reportedly away in Europe, said the Port Authority was in discussion with Carnival Cruise Lines regarding development plans for Ocho Rios and Montego Bay, and the minister of transport and Jam Railway were actively pursuing the redevelopment of the Montego Bay to Appleton lines to connect the Appleton Attraction.
"We are working on increasing the number of arrivals into Montego Bay and Ocho Rios while improving those facilities so that Jamaica will be, beyond doubt, the leading cruise destination in the region," he told Sunday Business.