JAMAICA jazz fans who customarily make the trip to the Barbados Jazz Festival on an annual basis, will have to cancel their travel plans.

It has been announced that the annual festival staged in that country since 1993, will not be held come next year.

In a letter released to the media, Gilbert Rowe of the organisers GMR International Tours noted that despite a successful 18-year run, the popular festival will not be staged in 2011.

Rowe noted that it was with a heavy heart that his company has taken the decision to forego the 2011 renewal due to the prevailing environment. “Our delay in making this announcement is rooted in the fact that we were exploring all possibilities which may have resulted in our being able to produce the festival for 2011 especially at this time when our nation requires all assistance possible with regards to tourism-related events,” Rowe said.

He added that although his organisation has over the years fought to keep the festival going, it would just not be possible next year. “It is because of this role that the festival has come to play in Barbados’ economic and cultural life that, in spite of rising costs and eventually raging recession, the producers have continued to juggle the almost impossible task to keep the festival intact and at its expected quality, offering and billing.”

Rowe said however, that while the producers of the Barbados Jazz Festival will not be in a position to mount the event in 2011, they have not totally abandoned the concept of the festival and hope that in the coming months they may be able to sow the seeds of its early return to, “its rightful place among the best jazz festivals in the world and the premiere jazz festival of the Caribbean.”