No-so-'Hip' anymore
Published:Sunday | May 29, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), Wayne Cummings, wants the Government to strongly consider "compulsory acquisition" of a number of properties that have been holding back the potential of Montego Bay's Hip Strip.
Some six hotels have locked their doors on what used to be called the 'hippest and trendiest strip in the Caribbean'.
Of particular concern to Cummings is the 118-room Fantasy Resort, which closed its doors 15 years ago, earning the reputation of a 'white elephant in decay', and Sea Gardens, its sister property, which are both owned by Montego Bay businessman Dennis Morgan.
In recent years, Breezes Montego Bay, which falls under the NCB Foundation, John Sinclair's Gloucestershire Hotel, Norman Puschell's Casa Blanca and Supreme Ventures' Coral Cliff, have joined the list, taking with them significant economic activities from the Gloucester Avenue location.
Untapped potential
"I see the possibility of a Hilton hotel opening a prime European plan (EP) resort where Fantasy now sits," Cummings stated at a Gleaner Editors' Forum last Thursday at the Sunset Resort and Spa in Montego Bay.
"People have put down their real estate and left them to decay," Cummings said, adding that the Hip Strip has the potential of being the entertainment capital of the resort town, helping the large number of restaurants, transport operators and gift shops that now exists there.
The strip is home to restaurants such as Marguerites, Margaritaville, Groovy Grouper, Twisted Kilt and The Pelican.
His comments were welcomed by Island Entertainment brands' chairman, Ian Dear, who described the current situation as disgraceful.
"It is a disgrace to allow the Hip Strip to get to this stage and the Government needs to step in and get the owners to immediately start improving their properties and, if they don't, get investors to come in," said Dear.
It is obvious too that the all-inclusive brand that the destination is known for is not the preferred choice for the strip, as Dear is also strongly encouraging that these hotels operate as three-and a-half- and four-star EP resorts.
"If all the hotels reopen, and the potential properties are developed, it will have a huge economic impact on the businesses now dependent on the industry," said Dear.
Reports are that Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett recently brought in prospective investors to view the strip with the hope of pumping millions of dollars into Fantasy Resort, looking at land on which the former Jamaica Tourist Board offices were located at Cornwall Beach, and other properties languishing there. However, that venture did not bring any fruit.
News is that the former Breezes resort is expected to be sold by its current owners, the National Investment Fund and the National Commercial Bank Foundation. That deal is reportedly in an advanced stage, a source close to The Sunday Gleaner has revealed.