THE Negril Chamber of Commerce has called for the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) to close its office in that resort town, saying its poor performance justified such a dramatic action.

“The JTB has been totally, totally useless as far as we are concerned,” said chamber member and property owner Sylvie Grizzle. She called the office “a total waste of money” and said the chamber had been lobbying to close it for years.

The chamber’s demand comes amid a raucous public debate about the tourist board, which has been described as inefficient by critics and under-funded by supporters.

Negril’s tourism leaders launched their own marketing programme about a year ago and claim it has been more effective than the tourist board’s efforts — even though it has spent less money.

Still, the chamber did not deny the island needs to be promoted more. It called for the tourist board to include more small property owners in its promotions, but said it must unload “bureaucrats” and inject more transparency in its operations.

Facing an outstanding bill of US$5.5 million from its US advertising agency, the tourist board has been unable to jump start this year’s advertising campaign.

As a consequence, Jamaica now has little presence in the vital American marketplace, as well as in Europe. Industry leaders are worried about plummeting occupancy levels and arrival figures, which have occurred despite heavy discounting.

In their defence, tourism officials say they spent the larger part of past budgets on advertising and were indebted to their US advertising agency due to a US$7.6 million shortfall in last year’s allocation.

But Sandals Resorts chairman, Gordon “Butch” Stewart, has remained sceptical. He recently led the charge against the board, alleging a huge gap between what it spends on administration and for promoting Jamaica. Stewart and other industry leaders have demanded a more efficient tourist board.

“It is the feeling of most of us who have been in the industry for donkey years that the JTB needs to be seriously looked at and that some form of renaissance be effected there,” said chamber president Kenrick Davis. “The tourist board should be reorganised and there should be more transparency in whatever they are doing. We are not happy with the way the money is being spent.”