The hyped Negril Emancipation weekend parties cost taxpayers $6.2 million in sponsorship from the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB).

Recently-released information indicates government support for the rival Smirnoff Dream Weekend and Appleton Temptation Isle (ATI) during the ongoing recession. The costs are only now being exposed, based on the latest data posted this month by the Office of Contractor General (OCG). The bill includes:

*security at some $2.3 million;

*food and lot rental at $1.5 million,

*transportation at $1.4 million;

*lighting and so on at $630,000; and

*cleaning services at $360,000.

There was no listed sponsorship for the hyped events in the years prior, based on an examination of OCG listing for 2009 and 2008.

The sponsorship represented less than three per cent of JTB’s roughly US$2.9 million ($250 million) budget for major events sponsorship and promotion. But it’s nearly double the spend on other weekend sponsored events including the Calabash Literary Festival which received some US$40,000 ($3.4 million). Last fiscal year the budget had been committed to 35 events and the Jazz Festival represented the largest spend at 15 per cent. The Sunday Observer’s mailed and phoned queries to the JTB were not returned up to time of print. but the cost to taxpayers would have been balanced by the economic activity generated from the event.

For instance, armbands were sold-out for both major series of parties, costing $10,000 each, according to promoters who previously spoke to the Observer. Whilst hoteliers in Negril expected 100 per cent occupancy as some 15,000 patrons, mostly from Kingston, were expected for the long weekend.

Kamal Bankay, a promoter with Dream Team, organisers of Dream Weekend, marvelled at the overwhelming response to this year’s event. He noted that the economic spin-offs were far-reaching, providing a major boost to a town which, like many across the island, had been grappling with the ills of a struggling economy.

“There’s a huge economic benefit for the town of Negril,” Bankay told the Sunday Observer previously.

Dream Weekend offered a total of seven parties. The gate prices for the individual parties at Dream Weekend ranged from $2,000 to $4,500. It’s a similar concept for rival party ATI, which offers a total of seven parties with gate prices ranging from $1,500 to $4,500.

But patrons weren’t spilling the cash for just music and liquor. They were treated to multi-demensional entertainment events, full of amenities as party promoters invested in attractions to lure the masses, including fireworks and helicopters airlift.

“We added this dimension where we are trying to break through the box and invest a lot in these wow factors,” Bankay had revealed.