Higglers !!

[sunray]

The people giving trouble and stress to the tourists on the beach are not higglers. Higglers will offer some type of goods or service. (without hassle or intimidation). This does not include the low life types coming to Negril to extract money from tourists through intimidation, hassle or other untoward means. The powers that be, need to wake up to the fact that they are losing tourists and their revenue because they are not doing enough to keep tourists in a comfort zone. How many first time visitors will never return? How many long time visitors will retreat behind the AI walls, or just go to another destination that feels more comfortable to them? I am a long time visitor and over the last decade, when someone asks me if they should go to Jamaica I very much hesitate to say it is a good idea.
Look at how some of the small hotels on the south end of the beach struggle. there was a time these small hotels were thriving. Independent travellers aren’t arriving in the high numbers they once were.
The word is out on Jamaica, and sadly, by and large it is not good. Hurts me to say that!
Where is the 20 year old kid coming to Jamaica for the first time, falling in love with the island and returning 20, 30, 40 times more? Just not happening anymore, (witness the empty hotel rooms of the small hotels). We know why. Jamaica can be a scary place to the newcomer, and old timers adjust and move in smaller, more cautious circles. Many first timers are one and done. It is understandable that the AI hotels caution their guests about leaving the property.
More needs to done now!

[mwenvlay]

The people giving trouble and stress to the tourists on the beach are not higglers. Higglers will offer some type of goods or service. (without hassle or intimidation). This does not include the low life types coming to Negril to extract money from tourists through intimidation, hassle or other untoward means. The powers that be, need to wake up to the fact that they are losing tourists and their revenue because they are not doing enough to keep tourists in a comfort zone. How many first time visitors will never return? How many long time visitors will retreat behind the AI walls, or just go to another destination that feels more comfortable to them? I am a long time visitor and over the last decade, when someone asks me if they should go to Jamaica I very much hesitate to say it is a good idea.
Look at how some of the small hotels on the south end of the beach struggle. there was a time these small hotels were thriving. Independent travellers aren’t arriving in the high numbers they once were.
The word is out on Jamaica, and sadly, by and large it is not good. Hurts me to say that!
Where is the 20 year old kid coming to Jamaica for the first time, falling in love with the island and returning 20, 30, 40 times more? Just not happening anymore, (witness the empty hotel rooms of the small hotels). We know why. Jamaica can be a scary place to the newcomer, and old timers adjust and move in smaller, more cautious circles. Many first timers are one and done. It is understandable that the AI hotels caution their guests about leaving the property.
More needs to done now!

the powers that be need to start taking better care of their people and give them realistic career/livelihood options other than dealing with tourists. i find it sad that you think the government is failing because it's not finding a way to make tourists feel more comfortable. the government needs to make its people feel like they have a viable future in their own country.

that being said, i live in a neighborhood in nyc that's feeling the exact same squeeze of gentrification that negril is undergoing, and alternate between spending time in haiti (family) and jamaica (just like haiti but with a bit more infrastructure), so i may have a really different view of the situation that you do.