Happy days are here again
Anti-harassment efforts working, says Belnavis
CHAIRMAN OF the National Cruise Council (NCC) Michael Belnavis says that the Government’s anti-harassment efforts have been working, noting that there are visible signs of visitors walking the streets without being badgered or followed.
According to Belnavis, the Courtesy Corps, a tourism security unit that falls under the Tourism Product Development Company, must be commended for doing a good job in keeping the harassers in check and allowing the visitors to interact freely with locals.
Belnavis also had high praise for members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, pointing out that policing in the resort towns was not always “a walk in the park”.
“The early signs have been very encouraging,” the NCC chairman told Hospitality
Jamaica in an interview last Friday. “Places like Ocho Rios have been experiencing an unusual amount of walking traffic from the cruise pier into the main thoroughfare of Main Street, and without the usual harassment from the pimps, touts, and drug pushers.”
Belnavis added that he was getting similar reports out of Montego Bay and Falmouth, noting that the news was coming at a time when Jamaica’s cruise shipping and stopover arrivals are enjoying a kind of purple patch that has not been seen in years.
“I am always at pains to point out that it is not the wisest thing to toot the horn too early,” Belnavis, who is also the mayor of St Ann’s Bay, cautioned. “It is, however, a remarkable thing to see the tourists walking the streets, making their own deals with the vendors, and interacting freely at the streetside bars and local stores.”
He further explained that visitor harassment has been one of the leading ills facing the tourism sector, contributing to problems and causing tensions with the cruise lines.
“If we can keep it under control, then there is really nothing to stop us from being the preferred destination in the region for stopover and cruise shipping combined,” he noted.
The change in temperature has also not been lost on residents and members of the business community who also have been commenting on the situation. “I am seeing a change for the better,” said Garfield Dussard, owner of Garfield’s Diving, a water sport operation located on the Urban Development Corporation Beach, Ocho Rios.
“I am seeing more traffic coming my way minus the accompanying pimps and the touts. The people are walking freely.”
Roger Hyatt, a tour bus operator who plies the Falmouth to Ocho Rios and also the Montego Bay route, said that except from the usual pestering by some of the taxi drivers, visitors for the most part have been freely walking the streets. “On ship days in Falmouth and Ocho Rios, you can see a noticeable change in behaviour,” he noted.