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Wary tourists cancel vacations in Jamaica

BY EMILY SCHMALL
Special to The Miami Herald

No Woman, No Cry. The Trench Town Culture Yard, a home where Bob Marley learned to play the guitar, is now a museum. When a reporter approached, a surprised tour guide rushed to the entrance, an infant on her hip. There had been no visitors since May 24, she said, and she hadn't expected anyone.

The swanky pool bar at the upscale Spanish Court hotel in New Kingston, the city's business district, was nearly empty. Among the few people there were Meghan Fabulous, a fashion designer, and her company president Sacha Hason, who came to Kingston to do a trunk show.

The trip had been planned for months, but they nearly canceled it after learning about the State Department advisory. ``We're like, `What? This is crazy!" Hason said. "Our experience from Montego Bay was that the people were really relaxed, easy-going. This was like a shock, what happened."

They decided to make the trip anyway, but hired extra security to follow them from the airport and accompany them to the Bob Marley Museum and a luxury resort in nearby St. Andrew parish.

"I thought about canceling, but my husband assured me we'd be staying far from the action," said Angela Talbott, a private security analyst from Miami who was embarking on a week-long stay in Kingston.

The impact of the shootings spread to some of Jamaica's more popular tourist destinations.

"If you're going to Montego Bay or Negril, you're fine," Samuel Logan, regional manager for the Americas at iJet, a risk assessment firm, told the Washington Post. "You couldn't be farther away from Kingston unless you were on another island."

Even so, at Secrets, a 700-room all-inclusive resort in Montego Bay, about 120 guests canceled their Memorial Day weekend reservations.

"We were finally seeing some positive growth in Jamaica. We over here are hoping like hell this thing in Kingston doesn't stop it," said Delwin Rochester, Secrets' resident manager.

"I was worried before we actually got here and saw how calm it was," said Katie Elliot, a Secrets guest and hospital supplies saleswoman from Memphis.  "It seems a lot safer here than at home."

Info: Jamaica Tourist Board, 800-526-2422, www.visitjamaica.com

From MiamiHerald.com.

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