OLD HOPE, Westmoreland — Ever since founding the Jamwest Race Track in 2003, Ian “Niney” Gordon set his sights on establishing an eco-tourism attraction on the 300-acre property, just outside of the resort town of Negril.

Now 12 years later, the visionary businessman is elated that Jamwest Motorsports and Adventure Park, Jamaica’s most current attraction, should be officially opened on time for the start of the 2015/2016 Winter Tourist Season.

“It really started out from the racetrack. We realised that the racetrack didn’t have a strong enough allure for patrons, so I looked around and realised that if I added an attraction to it, it (attraction) would enhance the racetrack and the racetrack would enhance the attraction. That’s what motivated me and gave me the drive,” Gordon told the Jamaica Observer.

He also noted that the Jamwest Motor Sports and Adventure Park, which will provide an attraction close to visitors on vacation in Negril, will add to the tourism product in that resort town.

“I think it’s one of the

must-see locations if you are in Jamaica, because it is one property that has so much to offer and the major thing about it also is the proximity to Negril. It’s 30 minutes from Negril, and one of the things that was missing from Negril was that all of the attractions were so far away from Negril,” Gordon pointed out.

Meanwhile, according to Andel Griffiths, one of marketing personnel at Jamwest Motorsports and Adventure Parks, in addition to the racetrack, the attraction features ATV tours, a safari tour where tortoise, ducks, crocodiles, Jamaican yellow snakes, pythons are displayed on the boardwalk; an aviary with over 400 species of birds; a rocky water village with natural water springs and a mineral bath; zip lines, among other offerings.

“We have the latest and the newest zip line in Jamaica, that’s over 2,000 feet long with towers that are over 70 feet tall. We also host racing zip, where two persons can zip line at the same time. We also have a state-of-the-art clubhouse that can seat 300 people,” Griffiths noted.

“We are also the home of JamWest Speedway, which is the biggest track in Jamaica and one of the biggest tracks in the Caribbean, and also the only track that can host a drag race event and a circuit event on the same day… one facility that has all of these facilities.”

Meanwhile, Gordon noted that over the years he has incrementally improved on the natural characteristics of the attraction.

“All the features around have been in existence, but I just enhanced them. We have developed them over time. Since 2003 we’ve been working on everything, and it’s just coming to maturity now. And it will be launching out pretty soon to be a tourism attraction,” Gordon argued.

Meanwhile, Griffiths further argued that: “We did not introduce anything in the environment that was foreign to it, so we tried to keep everything as natural as possible.

“It is definitely eco-tourism as when you go on the boardwalk you can realise that we built the boardwalk and we try not to cut down or destroy any of the mangroves when we were building the boardwalks in the mangrove area,” Griffiths revealed.

In the meantime, he declared that the attraction will not only be opened to tourists, but to locals as well.

“We will be opened to locals and tourist; right now we are opened to schools, churches, any local entity that wants to come down, families or any groups,” he noted.

Last week, Gordon hosted his friend, Dane “Blushie” Foote and his family, who were taken on a tour of the facility. Foote’s wife, Audrey, was celebrating her birthday.

“Niney has a gem here, but it is the best-kept secret,” “Blushie” Foote quipped.

“Mi never know he had this down here.”