By Dale McNish, Freelance Writer 
McNeill
WESTERN BUREAU:
IN A bid to boost Negril's tourism product, the Negril Chamber of Commerce and the Jamaica Hotels and Tourist Association (JHTA - Negril Chapter), have secured the services of an overseas public relations firm to spearhead its marketing campaign.
The initiative was launched last Saturday at the Swept Away property, which was attended by Dr. Wykeham McNeill, State Minister in the Tourism Ministry, Jamaica Tourist Board officials and several hoteliers and operators of attractions.
Negril now joins the other resorts of Ocho Rios and Montego Bay which have embarked on similar campaigns.
The London-based Citigate Dewe Rogerson, with 50 offices in six continents with a tourism public relations network that spans Europe, United States and Latin America is said to be one of the world's premier communications companies. The company will start its Negril public relations campaign in June and will last for 18 months.
"The contract is US$8,000 per month and we have just committed the first three months' cheque for this project to start," said Baldwin Powell, chairman of the Negril Marketing Committee. The Ministry of Tourism has provided matching funds of US$100,000.
The committee is comprised of a wide cross-section of business interests in Negril including hoteliers, restaurateurs and craft vendors.
Jose Lima, the company's vice-president of tourism and Hispanic corporate services at the Miami office said they would be collating data in the resort town as the first order of business to determine the resort's top feeder and growth markets.
The team also plans to gather information from the JTB and the various resorts in Negril. "We have been on a fact-finding mission from day to night, meeting as many people as possible and seeing all the different types of properties."
A comprehensive press kit will be produced on Negril for distribution to major newspapers, magazines, television and radio stations.
"We are going to start bringing journalists to Negril so they can actually experience the resort first-hand and go back to their cities, where you have all of those potential visitors and publish articles on television and radio programmes to get the message across about Negril, about all of the wonderful mix that is here," noted Lima.
Making reference to the importance of this programme to Negril which has seen marked improvement, Dr. McNeill said the resort town has changed over the last couple of years. "It has developed... it is not Negril as it was maybe five or 10 years ago, in terms of the infrastructure we now have a central sewage system in place, new roads are almost completed, water and telephone systems are put in place, so the community itself as stepped up a notch," he said.
Describing the campaign as exciting, Dr. McNeill said he is anxious to see the outcome of the programme and its benefits and hope the synergy play-off in Negril will dovetail in the whole scenario in Jamaica.
Citigate has an impressive client base in tourism which includes the Riu Convention and Visitors' Bureau, Boeing, Deloite Consulting and Barclay's British Airways, British Tourism Authority.
According to the company's brochure, Citigate (Miami) offers tourism public relations resources that are ahead of the pack. "We work directly with clients to evaluate their markets and achieve an in-depth, mutual understanding of the relevant issues. From there, we set strategic goals with long and short term initiatives."
