PM Urges Development of Attractions (Outameni Tour)

MONTEGO BAY — Prime Minister, Hon. Bruce Golding, has charged tourism stakeholders to "get busy" in developing and marketing the country's attractions in order to enhance the visitor experience.

He said that there are some "fabulous attractions" in the country, some natural and some that enterprising Jamaicans have created, and "we just have to get busy and we just have to keep producing more and more attractions for this country".

He was speaking to JIS News yesterday (July 30) following a tour of the Outameni Experience located in Cooper's Pen near Falmouth, Trelawny.

Billed as "an experience", the 90-minute tour takes visitors through the various stages in Jamaica's history, from the Tianos, to the Spanish, to the African slaves, the English landowners and modern Jamaica. The interactive tour allows visitors to experience the culture and vibrant spirit of the Jamaica people through music, art, dance, film, drama and authentic Jamaican cuisine.

Obviously moved and impressed by the experience, the Prime Minister told JIS News that Outameni is "a show with a difference".

"I really am impressed with it. It pulls together, in the space of about an hour, so many difference phases of Jamaican life, so many different phases of our development, going all the way back to the Tianos, the Arawak Indians and following our progression right through to today,"  he stated.

He said it is the kind of attraction that should be marketed across the tourism sector. "It's the kind of thing that we really want to encourage because that cannot be replicated anywhere else, that cannot be shown in any other country.

"That is Jamaica in its truest and purest form and therefore, it is one of those things that we want to do everything that we can to encourage and support," he stated.

The Prime Minister was accompanied on the tour by Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, and other members of the tourism fraternity.

By Glenis Rose

JIS REGIONAL OFFICE
MONTEGO BAY