OCHO RIOS, St Ann - Outgoing general manager of the 730-room Jamaica Grande hotel in Ocho Rios, Hans-Georg Rohrbein, has added his voice to those calling for the introduction of casino gaming as a means of diversifying local attractions for the tourism sector.

"I think that ultimately, to be competitive - besides the beach and whatever stuff - I think the casino portion is something that gives you a customer profile with money to spend," Rohrbein said. "All the places that have these casinos, there is a lot of tax revenue that comes in that helps the infrastructure and it creates, by itself, evening entertainment."

The debate over whether to introduce casino gaming in Jamaica as a tourist attraction has raged for several years with the church firmly opposed to its introduction. The government has, by and large, taken an anti-casino stance, but last March Prime Minister PJ Patterson indicated that the government was softening its position on the issue. He appointed a committee to weigh the pros and cons of casino gaming and to make recommendations as to the way forward.

Tourism interests have long supported casinos, and have touted them as a way to broaden the range of attractions available to tourists vacationing on the island.

Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) president Godfrey Dyer, president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce Winston Dear, and chairman of the Ocho Rios Cruise Shipping Council Michael Belnavis, are among those who have reiterated their stance in support of casinos in the past few months.

But Rohrbein, who leaves the island this week after being transferred to the Marriott Resort and Solaris Casino in San Juan, Puerto Rico, told the Observer that despite the lack of casinos, Jamaica, and in particular Ocho Rios, was still ahead of other Caribbean destinations when it comes to attractions and activities.

"Try to go to another island where you can do that many things within 20 minutes' driving radius," he said.

Rohrbein also had high commendation for how the attractions are run, saying they are run as well as anywhere else in the world.

But the outgoing manager, who has resort experience in several countries including Bermuda, Aruba and India and who has been at the Jamaica Grande since March 2003, offered some words of advice to the local tourism sector.

"I think you want to make sure that you have some key little things that allow a lot of customer groups to come in, so that you don't keep depending on the same group to come time after time. At the end of the day you just have to make sure you take care of the customers as they come. Your service has got to be there."

Rohrbein described his time spent in Jamaica as "really good" but said he thought he would have been here longer.
His farewell words to Jamaica? "One Love".

Executive Class

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Necessary Luxury