PLANS are coming together for this year’s staging of the annual party series Dream Weekend to be held in Negril from July 29 to August 1.

Managing Director of Dream Entertainment Scott Dunn told the Jamaica Observer that, following a meeting with stakeholders in Negril on Tuesday, all parties are looking forward to the events associated with the weekend and the spin-off benefits which accrue to the community and the country at large.

“We have a shortened time to plan this year’s event. It is not as short as the three weeks we had to pull off last year’s event, but still the prime minister only announced the opening of the entertainment sector in March and that only gave us four months compared to the year-long planning we have undertaken in the past. Despite this, we are up to the challenge. Coming out of the stakeholder meeting with persons, including the Chamber of Commerce, municipal corporation, fire and police departments, and the hoteliers, we can report that everybody is excited about the event being staged. Hotels are reporting that their figures are showing full occupancy, or close to that, for the period of Dream Weekend,” he said.

The major change this year is the number of events being staged as part of the weekend. There will be seven events over four days, compared to the typical nine events over a five-day period.

“This is primarily due to the time factor. As I said, usually we plan over a year, but this year we only had months. In addition, we wanted to keep ticket prices down or at least the same as they were last year, despite the increase in the cost of everything. So we just decided to keep things tighter and drop the number of events to seven. We will be announcing the list of superstars who will be performing at Dream Weekend as we get closer to the event. We have some big superstars this year and that should be a surprise to patrons,” said Dunn.

“The pandemic has made us realise how much people love quality events and so we are ensuring that we live up to the standards we have established since 2009. People value great experiences and one of the things we have noticed is that the VIP tickets are moving faster than general. It is clear that, having been locked away for so long, our patrons want a comfortable experience,” he said.

Dunn stated that a 2020 report indicated that Dream Weekend pulled $4.3 billion into the Jamaican economy and, as such, he is pleased to be able to assist with this injection of funds into a wide range of Jamaican businesses, including hotels, vendors, restaurants, transportation, and other services.