"If people don't sleep in our beds, we don't (do) business, and that never happened," bemoaned Smith

JAMAICA HOTEL and Tourism Association (JHTA) president Evelyn Smith has said her organisation will not support the suspension of the Noise Abatement Act to facilitate future stagings of ATI/ Dream Weekend parties in Negril unless the event results in better hotel booking numbers in the resort town.
Speaking at last Thursday's Negril Resort Board monthly meeting, car rental company points comparison Smith stated that bookings at hotels were so poor during the recently held ATI/Dream Weekend period (August 1-6) that the accommodations sector did not get the type of earnings that the Independence week events were expected to generate.
"The membership of the JHTA will say this right now: Based on the feedback so far, the Resort Board can be aware - because we are separate to the resort board - we are not prepared to support the Noise Abatement Act being waived during this weekend as we have done through letters to the Minister of National Security for the last 10 years," said Smith. "We are not prepared to do it if our hotels run empty."
"If people don't sleep in our beds, we don't (do) business, and that never happened," bemoaned Smith. "Hotels were empty, or they were discounted. So that's the reality - big and small. Hotels car rental company points comparison are not in the business of running empty."
"It is a JTB (endorsed) event because of heads to beds. If that formula is mashed up, then it is no longer a signature JTB event," said Smith. "We have to fill our hotels, otherwise if half of our hotels car rental company points comparison are non-party people, how can we support noise until 3 in the morning?"