Christopher Anand (right), managing director of TavistockGroup, is briefed by Audrey Marks, president of the American Chamber of Commerce of Jamaica (AmCham), at the recent Speakers Forum Luncheon at the Hilton Kingston Hotel, New Kingston. At left is R. Anthony Jenkinson, immediate past president of AmCham. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer

Barbara Ellington, Lifestyle Editor

With the millions of investor Joe Lewis funds behind them, the Tavistock Group is all set to undertake another upscale resort and residential community. This time, Harmony Cove in Trelawny will be the location. And in some 18 months, ground should be broken for more than 3,000 luxury hotel rooms in a resort complex targeting high net worth clients. Flair spoke with Christopher Anand, managing director of Tavistock, when he visited the island two weeks ago to update business interests on the project.

Mr. Anand said the Tavistock Group is excited about Jamaica. "It's a great country. We discovered that at a time when your government has made a decision to do this project and that has given us the confidence we needed to come in for this business opportunity. And when we get excited, others come on board. We are on the cusp of some greatthings. Tavistock has three other luxury resorts in the United States and The Bahamas."

Raw material

On the question of raw material for construction of the facility, will Jamaica be in a position to provide much of the raw material besides labour, cement and sand?

Mr. Anand is confident that wood for floors and moulding for luxury finishes will be bought here. Shipping costs are high so all basic raw material will be supplied locally and he hopes the quality will match their expectations. He told Flair that he was made to understand that first class quality is here so they would be crazy not to use it. He cited the Ralph Lauren designed beds at Round Hill Hotel and added that Tavistock was looking to have Jamaican-manufactured items in their Bahamas and Dominican Republic projects.

But, the real opportunities are the entrepreneurial and cottage industry spin-offs from Harmony Cove and its environs.

Hard sell

The most challenging issue for the Tavistock principals was security. Anand said when he told his boss Joe Lewis he was coming to Jamaica, he reminded him of the security and crime problems. But Anand said he would come here and try to figure things out. "I spent a lot of time trying to understand that issue and I reached the following conclusions:

Tourists come and continue to return year after year. This tells me that they still feel safe enough to keep returning. The crime problem did not pop up yesterday and the authorities must have found a way to keep it away from the tourists.

Crime is predominantly centralised in problem areas of Kingston and we are not putting our customers in those areas. But, there are not many cities in the world that do not have troubled areas.

Tourism is a major part of the economy, it drives the economy and I believe the Government is sincere about being open for business because recent developments point to that. I don't think all of those improvements would be allowed to go to waste.

On my first visit here, I took the drive from Kingston to Trelawny and it is a good distance. We are in the business of protecting our high net worth clients.

Mr. Anand noted his Jamaican business associates all live in Kingston but there are some issues, the perception of which has not been managed carefully; so it becomes a reality and the whole world thinks all Jamaica is bad.

"The perception is worse than reality, we have already started is to re-educate people and commit our resources to help authorities with promotional plans to shape the campaigns. Crime will become an issue for us if we do nothing to stem it. We have to get visitors to overcome that fear."

To date, Tavistock has spent some $5 million on land surveys and purchase, and other promotional aspects but in Anand's words, 'The real money is yet to come.

Potential clients cannot be named at this stage because they first want to create a community of great brands and will excite high-end people at the right time.

One major attraction will be the the two championship golf courses. All of these have to work according to plan. Reggae music is another area that will present exciting possibilities and discussions are underway. "The first wave of partnerships are about 10 weeks away from announcements," he said.

Another feature will be a convention centre to fill a need that exists in the region.

Mr. Anand is confident; the group's most senior resources are already committed. Local consultants are already working; marina, environmental, the legal firm Myers, Fletcher & Gordon, architects and coastline experts are already on board. To borrow a poker phrase, "we're all in," Mr. Anand said.

barbara.ellington@gleanerjm.com