THERE is growing tension among rafters operating at Rio Grande in Portland, who say they are being “short-changed” by the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo), operators of Rafter’s Rest in St Margaret’s Bay.

The men, most of whom have been operating for more than a decade on the river, are of the view that TPDCo has not been marketing the attraction as much as it should.

According to them, the contractual arrangement between the two parties stipulates that TPDCo is to attract customers who the rafters would then take on a three-hour tour along the river.

An employee at the attraction, who asked not to be named, told the Jamaica Observer that the issue developed because the men, licensed and employed by TPDCo, had gone rogue and were “undermining” the business.

“You can’t employ to company and a do your own thing. You a take the customers them for yourself; that is wrong! When you do that the company loses,” the worker said.

But the group of men rebutted this claim, suggesting that it is a case of the end justifying the means.

“We a look business fi we self. The company naah look nuh business fi you, so you affi go look it for yourself. Nuh suh it go? Dem naah market the business,” Antonio Pearson, who has been operating there for 27 years, said.

His colleague, Waldermar Pryce, questioned: “You ever one day turn on your radio or TV and hear or see Rio Grande tour, or you ever one day see one ad inna di paper?”

The men insisted that it would be “unfair” to seek out business for themselves and then allow TPDCo to benefit from it. They explained that prior to TPDCo they were under the management of the Jamaica Tourist Board, a period they said was fruitful and mutually beneficial.

“When tourist board did have it, tourist board go and look business and deal with di rafting. Now they (TPDCo) don’t do that. We affi see you people passing and ask, ‘Rafting?’ and we stop and introduce you to the business,” Lancelott McFarlene, who boasts 50 years’ experience, told the Observer last Wednesday.

Calls to TPDCo for an official comment went unanswered on Friday.

The men explained that there is a standard cost for visitors, which is not subject to change. They argued that there was no room for flexibility and said that this, too, is killing business.

“Dem have a price ’round there, right? It fair for you to come all the way here and can’t pay the full price because you only need an hour or an hour and a half and can’t get it? Member, you can’t know di price because dem naah market di thing.

“So if you have di time can spend an hour or lesser money than dem a charge you, we naah turn you back,” Pryce said.

Foreigners are required to pay US$90 while Jamaicans are asked to pay US$75, the men informed.

“If you can afford $5,000 (US$38) we should refuse that when no business nuh come fi di whole day? So dem (TPDCo) seh ‘no’, what we’re doing is illegal. How that fi illegal when a man can’t afford the full price and you mek him pay for what him can afford?” Pryce continued.

Added to that, the group said some captains were adding to their distress by putting friends first.

“If you nuh look your trip you will dead fi hungry because you will deh here fi a month and nuh get nothing, while a man a go six or seven times. Dem don’t fair up at the office. We have a big problem and this has been going on for years, and nobody naah look pon we,” another rafter, Granville Hill, said.

The men are paid per tour and are given $4,200 (approximately US$32) out of the standard costs. They explained that on a “good day” they get two tours, but were quick to point out that they sometimes go for long periods, up to six weeks, without getting a single tour.

“It’s bad management. There is no catering to the business. You see how down there (office) run down?” McFarlene said, his colleague Pryce adding, “It’s a corrupt system.”