NAME OF FEATURE | THE GLEANER | MONDAY, MARCH 28, 2022 8 TOURISM CONTINUED FROM 7 are reasonably priced, but since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, business has been really slow. “We are not reaping the benefits of the tourist market. Althoughmost of my products are made by me, I still have overhead costs associated with my daily living expenses,” Brown said. With almost the entire stall decked out in Rastafari-inspired items, it is a great place to pick up a souvenir, including Rasta-coloured beads, pieces in many styles and paintings. A former hotel worker, Brown, who lost his job, began his trade as a craft vendor. “The tourists are coming,” he said. “But they are not buying anything. Crafts are now sold in the hotels’gift shops, where other craft vendors are allowed to operate. We have also lost our sales to many immigrant shopkeepers who sell similar craft items in shops set up in the town,” he said. An isolated and remote fishing village until the late 1960s, Negril has grown to become one of Jamaica’s largest and most rapidly expanding resort towns. According to the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), Negril represents 20 per cent of the island’s stop over visitors. Negril’s expansion came in the wake of efforts by the Jamaican Government in the period leading up to independence in 1962 to diversify its economy away from agriculture and its decision to pursue tourism as a major post-war development strategy. With the midday sun pelting down our backs, it was hard to imagine all these vendors, sitting in their stalls for the entire day, with few or no sales. “It is hard now. Business was good when I started, and we used to enjoy what we are doing. We are not even safe any more as crime is also a major issue. When we go out, we can’t say that we will go back in safe,”Brown said. At the onset of the pandemic, Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett met with craft vendors, one of the key sub-sector groups in tourism. With the closure of borders tourism came to a halt, leaving many workers and businesses displaced. Unfortunately, Brown and his colleagues did not benefit from the fiscal actions to cushion the economic impact of COVID-19. According to Brown, these days he looks forward to the sunset as that is about the only time they are likely to make a sale. keisha.hill@gleanerjm.com Paul H. Williams/Gleaner Writer AT BELMONT, Westmoreland, there is a beautiful cream-sand beach that could rival any on the north coast. The folk in the area call it ‘Peter Beach’. Right in front of it is a gated property. On it, ‘Peter House’, better known as the Peter Tosh Mausoleum, is mounted. When The Gleaner visited recently the beach was bereft of any human being. It sizzled under the midday sun and was quenched by the ebb and flow of the turquoise Caribbean Sea. There was also no human activity on the property on which the late great reggae icon is resting. It was dead. The days when “bus upon bus, upon bus” would stop by are suspended, but Neville ‘King Black’ Powell wants them to come back. The Gleaner chanced upon him as he was walking along the main road. The team wanted to know where exactly the Mausoleumwas. He, who was wearing a T-shirt with ‘Peter Tosh’ emblazoned on it, said he was the ‘guard man’ for the private property, also known as ‘Morris Land’. Upon our request, he followed us back to the gate fromwhich the eternal home of one of the Wailers could be seen. There, Powell spoke about how COVID-19 has affected his fishing business, and has brought the trips to one of Westmoreland’s most popular destination to a screeching halt. When the topic of Jamaica 60 and Queen Elizabeth II still being Jamaica’s head of state was broached, the Rastafarian who was born August 8 said, among other things, “A we give the queen dem good food fi eat, right through the world … A we fi let har go, but Rastaman no really watch that. Rastaman Neville Powell, the gatekeeper of Peter Tosh Memorial in Belmont, Westmoreland, said he would like to see improvements on the compound of the memorial grounds for Independence. NICHOLAS NUNES/PHOTOGRAPHER NEVILLE POWELL WANTS FOR PETER TOSH BIG INDEPENDENCE SPLASH jamaica at PLEASE SEE SPLASH, 9 JAMAICA AT 60: WESTMORELAND
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