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I tend to agree with Packrat's thread. I see no issues with the 1981 development plan, other than the enforcement. Ultimately I believe it up to
the Jamaican people to decide their own direction or path. (I do understand the inherent problem here).
Personally, if Negril becomes the land of mega resorts, and tall building ill take my business elsewhere. I enjoy Negril now, and wish I could have seen it decades ago.
MMmmm very informative Accompong (not). Who or what is stopping the Jamaican small business owners from increasing their room offerings? Rondel added (as an example), while others do not. I've seen re-development plans for one property (maybe more), but nothing happened.
No Point or any AI's for her anymore...I introduced her to the West End nice small boutique property...loves it.
Once Negril is over developed and Cuba is open to Americans the business in Negril will drop dramatically. Lots of unspoiled beaches in Cuba.
I'd like to chime in about two posts. Yes Ras Walleye, I believe there are many Americans hoping that relations between Cuba & US continue. When and if the travel restrictions are lifted, there will be big hotel investors throwing money into Cuba like crazy. As you said lots of unspoiled beaches there. I would like to reiterate what TAH mentioned earlier. We stayed one time at a huge Riu in Ocho, it was full. I can';t remember how many stories the buildings where, but I believe there were like close to 900 rooms, so, in the buffet rooms, you've got practically 1800 people scrambling all over everybody to eat. Crazy. The beach was small. No disrespect here, but I didn't like it. {we don't do AI anymore, learned our lesson} We tried Ocho, just to check it out. We've been to Negril 12 times. So, what does that say? So, I too would be against tall tall resorts being built in our Negril. Rob, keep the topic rolling. It's good to have everybody have a comment on this. Yamon'
Couples and Sandals are Jamaican owned resorts. Newcomers to Jamaica-the so called Spanish resort operators-are given huge tax incentives that give them a great advantage over the established resorts.I understand that the incentives last 10 years. These foreign operators seem to be interested in building large rather tacky properties. I think that when the tax incentives run their course, these concerns will sell and leave deteriorated buildings that may or may not be bought by a different foreign concern. Jamaica seems to be interested only in immediate gratification. Johnny Issa saw what was coming and has almost completely taken SuperClubs off the island. With the tax incentives and easier access to funding, the new mega resorts are running the Jamaican owners out of business. These newcomers also arrogantly ignore some of the building restrictions. One new resort stole the sand from an entire beach. I think that the beach owners law suit has been lingering in court for several years. One only has to look at Grand Palladium in Lucea to see shoddy construction. Parts of that project begin to fall apart in its first year and what a monstrosity the resort is! One can see the effect of the tax incentives when they compare the condition of the facilities at Sandals and Couples with those at, for example, Iberostar Grande, which has pretty much the same price point as those two resorts. I am not very optimistic when I look for leaders that can effectively solve Jamaica's many problems. Perhaps some likkle things can be tackled and we can enjoy the island for now. I would love to see a ban on those black plastic bags. I am afraid to take a water sample to be analyzed especially in the MoBay area.
Lee and Butch also play buy the rules, the ones they helped put together. They are the leaders that Jamaica and Negril need to step up and flex some muscle. Lee's dad was the original visionary for Jamaican tourism and Butch is well Butch, a Jamaican Icon. There is room for all Jamaican investors and those willing to invest in Negril, but investments must be long term, not the Gordon Gekko kind
My prediction, an easy one to make, is that we will see more foreign investment.The Chinese will be a presence. The Jamaican owned resorts, in particular the small ones, will struggle. Sandals will use income from other countries to keep the Jamaican resorts open if they can. Spanish will become the second language on the island. The resorts in Jamaica will have to compete with Cuba for the North American tourist and will try to offset that competition by catering to Russians and former Soviet bloc countries. There will be an attempt to lure the Latin American tourist but I can't quite figure out if Jamaica will really appeal to those tourists.The influence of Spanish speakers will,however, be significant. The allure of the casual use of ganja may make Jamaica a more fun place to visit-if that, in my opinion, is possible. The development of medical tourism which might include the use of medical ganja could be interesting. When I first came to Jamaica, I think that I had to go to Kingston to see a traffic light. Hopefully, Negril could be preserved as much as possible as it is and perhaps even restored somewhat as it was. The other parts of the island could sort of be sacrificed to "economic development".
Foreign investors are presently in the process of buying more Jamaican properties. Chinese investors are building a large resort in the Bahamas and have investments now in Jamaica.They are investing in the port project on Goat island. There are,indeed, direct flights from Latin America and the Jamaican government is encouraging more. Spanish is being taught more now in Jamaican schools and many resort employees are taking Spanish courses. This helps them move into management positions with the foreign investors. Already charter flights are being flown from the former Soviet bloc countries to Jamaica. In fact, Russian language courses are being taught in Jamaica to help resort workers in dealing with the visitors. Ganja will soon be decriminalized in Jamaica and there is serious discussions about the development of a medical marijuana industry on the island. The facts of the foreign investment in Jamaica is common knowledge and so is the effect on Jamaican owned properties. No one can easily dismiss the impact of an open Cuba. I refer to the "traffic lights' in light of the recent modernization of Jamaica and the expectation of more modernization. Sorry if some can not follow the train of thought. In this context, I would hope that Negril could be spared as a sort of historical zone if you will with more stringent building codes etc than other parts of the island. Falmouth has been designated a historical site-United Nations, I believe. In Mexico, San Miguel de Allende has been preserved as a special city where no traffic lights are allowed for instance. As others have stated, the present codes in Negril should be emphasized, modified where necessary and enforced. There will indeed be development but if there is foresight, perhaps that development can be controlled to the benefit of all concerned and Negril as we hope to see it can be preserved. Wayward fantasies? And certainly not almost complete ignorance of the facts.
I would like to respond to a few points that have been mentioned in several comments.
The competition for Caribbean tourism is becoming more threatening to Jamaica. As someone else noted, the opening of Cuba to U.S. citizens is a serious issue, if only because Cuba is even closer to the U.S. Also, marijuana is being decriminalized throughout the Caribbean and, for better or worse, this challenges one of Jamaica's traditional selling points.
The question is how Jamaica should respond, especially with regard to Negril. I read several comments to the effect that "change and growth are inevtiable." That conflates two separate issues. Change and growth are not synonyms. Everything changes, but not everything grows. When it comes to Negril, yes, change is inevitable there too. Things fall apart, people die, new trees grow, new devices are created. These things happen whether we like it or not. Growth, however, is a choice. Whether Negril "grows" -- as in adding new buildings or taller buildings -- is up to the Jamaican people.
Which brings me to my real point. If I were in charge of Jamaican tourism and considering Negril's future, I would look at what is unique about Jamaica and Negril and I would market that unique identity. For instance, Jamaica has a fabulous musical culture (as does Jamaica's new competitor, Cuba). Jamaica has Rastafarians, who bring world-famous sativa marijuana and organic vegetarian food to the table. Negril has astonishing natural beauty, a fabulously long, protected beach and breathtaking cliffs just a mile away. Negril has a low-key, small-scale charm that is increasingly rare and treasured in this overdeveloped, overgrown, overcrowded world. A lot of people want exactly that on vacation.
In my opinion, if Jamaica succumbs to the lure of quick "growth" it will destroy Negril, both as a tourist destination and literally through reckless overbuilding, further depletion of the essential morrass, further polluting the Negril River (and then the sea), overburdening the already weak infrastructure, and basically ruining what makes Negril so attractive in the first place.
Peace.