MONTEGO BAY, St James — Several north coast hotels yesterday reported occupancy levels in the high 90s, due mainly to the staging of the 5th Biennial Diaspora Conference now under way in the resort city of Montego Bay.

Sherri-Ann Leslie, reservations manager at the 489-room Hilton Rose Hall Resort and Spa, told the Jamaica Observer that the resort currently has 100 per cent occupancy.

She could not say, however, how many rooms are occupied by delegates attending the conference, but according to a reliable source, just over 300 rooms at the resort have been booked by delegates.

The conference was opened at the Hilton Resort and Spa by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller on Sunday night, and moved to the nearby spacious Montego Bay Conference Centre yesterday for the business sessions.

The source said due to the close proximity of the resort to the convention centre and the closure of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, many of the delegates chose to stay at the Hilton.

“The Hilton is really close to where the conference is going on. It is really walking distance so a large number of persons would book their rooms there,” explained the source.

At the Iberostar Resorts, also in Rose Hall, the Observer was told that two of the three properties there are seeing occupancy levels in the high 90s.

“We are getting a lot of bookings out of the conference,” said Julleth Green, Iberostar’s reservation manager.

She noted that the numbers are unusually high at this time of the year for the properties, but stressed that “we have attractive rates and an excellent promotion going on”.

The Holiday Inn Sunset Resort and Spa is also reporting “excellent occupancy levels” since late last week.

At the opening ceremony of the conference on Sunday night, junior minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade Arnaldo Brown said a record 700 people were in attendance.

Among them were local and overseas delegates, speakers, exhibitors and journalists.

According to Brown, the record turnout is in keeping with the predictions of his ministry that this year’s conference would be the biggest and best yet.

“It is an endorsement of the efforts of the planning committee to transform the event, which has been recalibrated, re-packaged and re-branded, with a change in the event logo, and intensified marketing,” he explained.

The four-day conference, which ends tomorrow, is being held under the theme: ‘A Nation on a Mission: Jamaica-Diaspora Partnership for Development’, and will, among other things, highlight investment and business opportunities in the country.