MoBay craft traders want in on plans for new craft villages
SOME craft traders in Montego Bay have called on the Ministry of Tourism to clue them in on its plan to construct craft villages to accommodate 45 traders in each resort town across the island.
“I would rather to see the plan. If they are thinking about a craft village, I think craft traders must be involved in the plan. Therefore, they must take it to the grass roots level and let’s work from there,” said one craft trader who did not wish to be named.
According to the trader, Tourism Minister Portia Simpson Miller spoke briefly about the Port Antonio facility at a recent craft traders’ conference in Montego Bay but it was not clear then, that villages across the island would only consist of 45 shops.
In calling for more information to be made available about the design of the new craft villages, a few traders also expressed fears that some of their colleagues will be displaced under the new plan.
“The craft village concept is excellent but what I am concerned about is the information that says each craft village consists of 45 shops,” said another trader who also wanted his name withheld. “In Montego Bay, we have over 1,000 traders for the five craft markets. I am considering what will the other craft traders do, where they will go, what is the plan for them?”
The craft villages will be established by an arm of the ministry, the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo). In an article carried in the Observer earlier this week, TPDCo public relations manager Prudence Barnes explained that the concept was to add diversity to the island’s tourism product.
The idea is to make the craft villages into a one-stop shop where visitors can obtain craft items, be entertained and partake of local cuisine. Each village will have 45 craft shops, a food court with bar and an amphitheatre where cultural entertainment packages can be offered.
The Harbour Street craft market in Montego Bay already has most of these components but consists of more than 45 traders.
The first 25-shop phase of the island’s first craft village is being established in Port Antonio at a cost of $22 million and it is said to be 70 per cent complete.
