Simpson Miller
Garwin Davis and Pat Roxborough, Staff Reporters
WESTERN BUREAU:
SMALL BUSINESS owners in the resort areas are complaining of being shut out of the tourist market by competitors, who, they claim, are paying transport operators to take cruise passengers directly to their stores.
"We are all suffering because of a cruel system that is being carried out under cover," said Mildred McCalla, president of the All Island Craft Vendors Association, whose members claim to be the chief victims of this practice.
"None of us are getting any benefits from the cruise ships. All the markets, from Ocho Rios to Montego Bay, are suffering," she added.
It is known as the tourism payola, involving scores of drivers who are reportedly paid a fee to transport visitors directly, from either the cruise ship pier or from a hotel, to particular business places. The drivers are reportedly paid based on the number of tourists they carry or on the number of trips made. They receive anywhere between $5,000 and $7,000 per week, plus gift items such as jewellery.
Ten cruise ships pass through Ocho Rios and five go through Montego Bay each week, carrying about 2,500 passengers each. On any given cruise ship day, drivers lined up at the resort piers, waiting for visitors to be taken to designated places where spending is restricted primarily at those locations. Payments are usually arranged secretly, sources claim, with most drivers preferring to wait until the end of a work week before collecting.
The practice has been condemned by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson and more recently by Tourism Minister Portia Simpson Miller, who said that it was wrecking the industry.
"The practice of capturing tourists from off the ships and by inducement, directing them to particular places to shop exclusively, has got to stop," the Prime Minister said two years ago in response to complaints from small business owners about the payola scheme.
Mrs. Simpson Miller, during a recent visit to Ocho Rios, said she was saddened to see that the practice was still prevalent.
"It has got to stop," she warned.
But Indru Dadlani, owner of Casa de Oro Duty Free Stores, in both Montego Bay and Ocho Rios, said he doesn't believe that the payola practice is as rampant as before. He noted that merchants from various shopping centres had to pay the cruise lines in order to entice their passengers to do shopping in Jamaica, adding: "We would be foolish to be paying twice.
"If the shopping centres don't pay the cruise lines, we would be bypassed in favour of Cayman, Cozumel and other destinations," Mr. Dadlani said.
And Sanju Chatani, owner of the Taj Mahal Plaza in Ocho Rios, said that since the Prime Minister's warning, he has asked store owners to discontinue the payola. He conceded, however, that there was no way to guarantee that everyone was complying.
According to Hugh Maitland Walker, the managing director of Tourwise, one of the largest tour guide operators in the industry, not every business was complying with the Government's wishes.
"We try to do as many spot checks as we can, but it's very hard to catch anybody as these are secret deals," Mr. Walker said.
However, a businessman of Ocho Rios, who has been frequently criticised for paying taxi drivers to carry cruise ship passengers to shop at his establishment, admitted to The Sunday Gleaner: "Of course we give incentives to people, who bring in people to shop in our establishment. I don't see anything wrong with it."
