RYAN Morrison, president of the Negril Entertainment Association (NEA), is calling on the resort town’s players to treat entertainment as a business.

He said while some of the issues facing the sector are external, others have to do with industry players.

“This is a multi-billion-dollar industry but it is not treated [as such]… and some of it is our fault because entertainment [players] don’t put themselves together as a business. People treat you similar to how you carry yourself so we are encouraging our members: ‘Love yourself, treat yourself right, and people will treat you better,’ ” said Morrison, while stressing the importance of starting events on time.

“The thing about Negril, it is an international town; it is not normal. Negril is one of the only places that tourists and Jamaicans just infuse. It is seamless, you can’t see this anywhere else where the locals and foreigners interact seamlessly… So, people from foreign countries expect [events to be started on] time — the Jamaican time can’t work — so it is affecting us in how we operate this side of town. And for our business to grow, we have to be serious,” Morrison continued.

Morrison was addressing the association’s inaugural western entertainment conference held in conjunction with the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment, and Sport. It took place at Couples Swept Away in Negril recently.

According to the NEA president, approximately 60 per cent of events held in Negril operate at a loss. This, he insists, is exacerbated by the costs associated with booking an artiste.

“A lot of artistes think that when they come to Negril they just shake a tree and money drops. That is why they charge us billions, that is why a lot of good acts are not had in Negril — the cost!” stated Morrison. “When we get an artiste to do a show he wants four-star [or] five-star double-occupancy rooms that cost US$300,000 to US$400,000 per night so, as a result, you come to the ‘Land of Reggae’ and you will be lucky if you see some big artistes performing in Negril. I don’t know if the Ministry [of Entertainment] can address it because I spoke to them about it.”

Another issue highlighted by Morrison is the slow turnaround time of event permits issued by the police.

“Music in Negril is a very contentious issue because of how the whole structure of Negril was built — [the] entertainment venue was right beside a hotel so it is always a consistent problem. So, there always needs to be mediation, and this is why NEA is important for the survival of entertainment because entertainment in Negril is critical to the guests’ experience and has to be managed. More so, it has to be managed based on the layout of the Negril, so there has to be dialogue and mutual respect for each other,” said Morrison.

Superintendent Wayne Josephs, officer in charge of the Westmoreland Police Division, said the police would love to give permits to all applicants as this could result in people enjoying themselves and making money, but the police have to do their due diligence.

“In trying to please one individual or a group, we don’t want to put other persons in discomfort so we have to be balanced. We also have to ensure that we maintain the rule of law at times, and public order and public safety so we have to balance the scale,” stated Josephs.