UDC identifies management company for Montego Bay convention centre
Published:Friday | November 19, 2010 | 12:00 AM
The Urban Development Corporation (UDC) has identified an international firm to market and operate the multibillion-dollar Montego Bay Convention Centre, says general manager Joy Douglas.
She declined to name the company. The convention centre is to be completed by mid-April next year, but that sections of the property would be ready to do business at the start of the new year.
Tourism interests earlier this year had warned that if a firm was not hired to market the convention centre, it could become a white elephant.
"If it's not booked for the next six to seven meetings, it's going to remain empty for the next two years," Wayne Cummings, president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association, said at the time.
Douglas said the operator of the property should be in place by January.
"It is in a very advanced stage," she said of the negotiations, noting that it was only left for Cabinet to ratify the choice.
She said the UDC has been getting queries both from national and international entities wanting to use the convention centre in 2011, and that one booking is already confirmed for January.
"The event that is confirmed, which can be published, is the Caribbean Market Place Tourism Exposé to take place in January 2011," she said.
The convention centre is being constructed to tap into the US$150-billion meetings and incentives market which, for years, has not realised its true potential because of lack of space for groups of more than 2,000 people.
The convention centre is a J$4.23-billion investment, funded by the Chinese Government through a loan agreement with the Export-Import Bank of China.
The 287,000-square foot facility rests on 23 acres of land owned by the UDC at Rose Hall, Montego Bay.
It will provide some 50,000 sq ft of exhibition space, 20,000 sq ft for banquets and more than 11,000 sq ft for meetings.