Montego Bay Segment of ‘Spruce Up Jamaica’ Launched

Minister of Tourism, Ed Bartlett, on Tuesday (Dec. 4) launched the Montego Bay segment of the ‘Spruce up Jamaica Nice Up Yuhself’ campaign, which will see some $12 million being spent to clean and beautify the resort town.
According to the Minister, the campaign, which has already been launched in Ocho Rios and Kingston, is geared towards enhancing the country’s tourism product.It will establish “a more attractive, more enticing and a far more beautiful and aesthetic surrounding. It will also seek to change attitudes, behaviour, style, responses and influence relationships,” he stated.Turning to the importance of tourism to the country, Mr. Bartlett said the industry, by itself “provides for 23 other industries to revolve around it.”
He noted further that “this industry, which is the number two foreign exchange earner in the country behind remittances, which contributes more than 10 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), and had a little more than three million visitors last year, has the potential to provide the flow-through effect throughout the economy to benefit the lives and change the economic position of every single person in Jamaica and we must give it the chance to do so.”
Encouraging Jamaicans to embrace the initiative, the Minister said that a second phase of the campaign will be launched, which will focus on service in the industry.
In the meantime, he appealed to those, “who are bent on creating social instability and disorder in the society” to join the rest of the country in protecting Brand Jamaica.
“It’s not worth your effort to try to damage and destroy the number five brand in the world. Stop it! Let us stop the violence, let us stop the crime, let us stop the shootings and let us stop the homicides. Let us instead get into a groove where we understand ourselves, we respect ourselves and we respect our neighbour,” Minister Bartlett urged.