Maintain Falmouth as Visitor-Friendly Town – McKenzie

Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Hon. Desmond McKenzie, said the Trelawny Parish Council must work to maintain Falmouth as a visitor-friendly town.

This, he said, is to ensure that the Falmouth pier continues to be the premier port of call for mega vessels.

“The ships are doing their part in coming here, so we have to give them the reason to maintain that commitment. We have to keep the town clean and to maintain the basic infrastructure,” he said.

“We are talking about thousands of tourists, who arrive each week or whenever these large and expensive vessels are here. We are talking about a lot of trickle-down benefits for the craft vendors, the transport operators as well as a lot of business entities. We are talking about much needed revenue for the country and we have to do everything to protect it,” he added.

The Local Government Minister was speaking during a tour of the pier on July 14, after a special meeting at the Council chambers.

At the meeting, he informed that the Ministry will be providing $29 million to assist in drain cleaning, road maintenance and basic infrastructure work in the parish.

The Falmouth pier accommodates some of the largest cruise ships in the world.

On the day of Minister McKenzie’s visit, two of Royal Caribbean’s flagship vessels, Allure of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas, docked at the pier with over 10,000 passengers combined.

Harmony of the Seas, another Royal Caribbean vessel, and the largest cruise ship in the world, will be making its inaugural visit to Falmouth in November.

Falmouth’s Mayor, Garth Wilkinson pledged that the Trelawny Parish Council “will continue to operate with the interest of the people in mind and will do everything to make Falmouth a town that is befitting of its new-found status as the cruise-shipping capital of Jamaica”.

In the meantime, owner of the Colors chain of duty-free stores, Jack Thakurani, welcomed the visit by Minister McKenzie and the commitment of funds for improvement works through the parish.

“It is very important to have a properly run town, especially one that is starting to look and feel like the cruise-shipping capital of Jamaica,” he said.

Senior director of the Royal Shop, Ravi Daswani, said it is obvious that Jamaica continues to enjoy the confidence of cruise lines officials based on the quality mega liners that have been calling at the nation’s ports.