MONTEGO BAY, St James — One influential tourism official in the west and an event organiser are among those convinced Montego Bay has what it takes to successfully stage Carnival and grab its share of what has been a lucrative annual event in Kingston.

“Definitely, we would be able to accommodate a lot more people down here, and I think it would be a really good experience if Montego Bay was to ever put a Carnival together,” Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) President Robin Russell told the Jamaica Observer on Monday.

“Persons could stay as far as Negril in the west and Ocho Rios in the east and come into Montego Bay for the Carnival experience,” he added.

Russell believes the country can offer more than one location where revellers can enjoy the vibe and overall connection with music that Jamaica provides.

Jamaica Carnival culminated with a massive road march along the streets of the capital city on Sunday and, according to initial estimates brought in about $5 billion into local coffers.

Local promoter of soca and calypso-themed events Selena Smith thinks that this could happen in Montego Bay. She is part of the team that staged We R Soca at Pier One, Montego Bay, on Saturday night, drawing a huge turnout of revellers from both in and outside of Jamaica.

“This is not the first event; we realised that a lot of tourists will come to these sorts of events, so we use that as a measuring tool — and we have been doing that,” Smith told the Observer.

“Since Montego Bay, and indeed St James, is the tourism capital — we have the airport here, we have the ship terminal — there is potential for us to have that in Montego Bay and to bring the tourists in,” she added.

While conceding that hosting a MoBay event similar to the one in Kingston will take a bit of preparation, she said the idea is actively being considered.

“It’s still in the planning process. We have to do a lot of research and development as it relates to taking something like that to Montego Bay because we are not a huge organisation. We would have to do a whole lot of planning and then we can speak more on that,” she said.

“But that is what we are looking forward towards in the future,” Smith continued.

She said they will approach entities such as Jamaica Tourist Board for support.

“We are looking to somehow partner with them to do some international media exposure that, we believe, can lead to an increase in tourism during that period in Montego Bay,” she explained.

“Once we can get some more international exposure, international advertising, and stuff like that in the future then, yes, it could happen,” said Smith.