Photo by Janet Silvera
Jill Scott in a stellar performance at the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival on Friday night.

Janet Silvera, Senior Tourism Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

The Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival is to get a permanent home at Success Beach, Rose Hall, as the Urban Development Corporation and the Ministry of Tourism are collaborating to provide a multientertainment and recreational complex there.

Success Beach is situated between SeaCastles Beach Hotel and Iberostar Rose Hall.

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett told The Sunday Gleaner that the complex, the first of its kind on the island, should be ready by the end of 2009 and will offer a signature Jamaican experience geared at augmenting the tourism product. The complex is to be built in time for the arrival of the world's largest ship, Royal Caribbean's Genesis, which will dock in Falmouth, Trelawny.

Right by the sea

"The land is over 30 acres and is right by the sea, and it's not just the music festival that we are planning to move there. The entire area will be an artisan village, allowing proper merchandising of our art and craft industry," Minister Bartlett disclosed.

The Success Craft Market, which is now located across from the SeaCastles Hotel, already has been identified for relocation to the new facility.

According to Minister Bartlett, the strategic objective is to have Jamaican communities integrated into the tourism product. The new complex will provide this opportunity.

Residents to benefit

In fact, Success Beach was dedicated for community use sometime ago. It is one of the few beach areas left for locals to enjoy. Bartlett noted that the residents of Lilliput, Barrett Hall, Barrett Town, Grange Pen, Greenwood and Long Bay, are the ones who will benefit from the construction of the entertainment complex.

Walter Elmore, executive producer of the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, was cautious in his pronouncements when The Sunday Gleaner sought to get his comments on the new venue. "The negotiations are still in the early stages, but I would want to make the move by January 2009," he said.

The plot of land he is slated to receive will be called 'Village Jamaica' and will have the capacity to accommodate 20,000 patrons, while the rest of the complex will accommodate the same number.

Elmore, who has become the Caribbean's maestro of jazz festivals, said it would not take much to prepare the new venue for his mega event. "It would only be the landscaping and the creation of an ambience that looks like the driving range of a golf course, similar to Cinnamon Hill," he said.

Lack of ambience

One of the complaints about the festival in 2007 was the lack of ambience at the current Aqueduct venue.

In addition to the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, Elmore said he plans to host regular events at the proposed entertainment complex at Success Beach. "Events stimulate economic activity," Elmore added.

Last week, the promoter predicted that the 2008 festival would pump $1 billion into Montego Bay's economy. Stakeholders in the industry say he is not far off in his estimates.