Heritage sites need functional management systems – Bartlett

WESTERN BUREAU:

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett wants management systems to be instituted for heritage sites and community locations across Jamaica before any money is spent in future on rehabilitating such venues, which, he says, often end up needing fresh restorative work.

He made the call on Thursday while addressing the official launch of the restored Holland Bamboo Scenic Avenue in St Elizabeth. The launch took place at the Holland Primary School located along the four-kilometre stretch of roadway.

“I am not happy with how a lot of our dollars have been given its rightful place of enriching communities and enhancing sustainability. We spend millions of dollars on heritage sites across Jamaica that go to ruin, and we spend millions of dollars on community centres and playfields across Jamaica, helping to enrich communities, and when you pass there, they are in ruins,” said Bartlett.

“We have built many beach improvement facilities across Jamaica, and when you go there, months afterwards, it is again in disrepair. That has to stop… we are going to insist that the management systems and structures are in place prior to the implementation of any of these investment projects that we have,” Bartlett added.

His comments were made in light of a recommendation by Floyd Green, the member of parliament for St Elizabeth South Western, for a scenic park to be built for the benefit of visitors travelling along the Holland Bamboo avenue.

“For us, Holland Bamboo has always been our most iconic location. We need a park in the locale, and we don’t just want people to come and take pictures and move on; we want somewhere where they can stop, know the history of the bamboo, and refresh themselves,” Green told the launch.

In the meantime, while acknowledging that tourism can only be successful when working hand-in-hand with other sectors, Bartlett noted that a portion of the money visitors pay when coming to Jamaica goes toward paying for improving and upgrading the local tourism experience.

“Tourists (contribute) $20 out of their ticket price for Jamaican tourism to develop, and it is out of the $20 that every tourist pays when they come to Jamaica that we are building out these enhanced activities across Jamaica,” said Bartlett.

“When they [tourists] come here, they need to feel good and that their money has been well spent too, and our taxpayers who bear the burden of creating the infrastructure to enable the guests to move seamlessly in Jamaica must also feel that their money is well spent.”

The restoration work on the Holland Bamboo Avenue, which is one of Jamaica’s heritage sites, began last September and was done at a cost of $8.5 million, funded by the Tourism Enhancement Fund. The work was necessitated by the thinning of the bamboo strands due to hurricane damage, as well as recent fires which left several bamboo roots and plants damaged.

The Holland Bamboo Avenue was created in the mid-1700s by English planter John Gladstone, the father of former Prime Minister of Britain William Gladstone.