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A swarm of touts is threatening the viability of the already hard-pressed Bath Fountain, Hotel & Spa which houses one of the world's most powerful and therapeutic mineral springs, a major contributor to the economy of St Thomas.
The persistent touts harass visitors and sometimes convince them not to support the hotel, resort officials have complained.
"The whole thing is affecting us badly," said Donovan Downie, acting head of operations at Bath Fountain, in an interview.
One tourist who visited the location recently described the situation there as "the exact opposite of what visitors to the facility go there to get".
The touts have taken over the periphery of the facility, a mainstay for the rural town of Bath in picturesque eastern St Thomas. Resort officials say they effectively turn off and turn away would-be visitors, many of whom see the bath as a big change from the fast-paced environs of Negril, Montego Bay and Ocho Rios.
The touts run a thriving business of their own, luring visitors to a section of the hill overlooking the Bath Fountain, telling gullible tourists that they could take them to the origin of the source of the water reputed to be medicinally invigorating to the body.
That so-called 'source' is actually water running down a piece of bamboo stuck out of a rock and which has not been certified as beneficial to the body, a Sunday Observer investigation has revealed. But as touts do, other 'services' are offered to the willing visitor: "Wha happen boss, lef something wid me nuh," one tout begged this reporter. "Me have some a di good stuff over dey so you nuh," another said, a coded reference to marijuana.
"If you even want you car fi wash me can do dat too," remarked yet another member of the posse of hustlers.
Downie lamented the fact that the touts were so successful. "A lot of people come here for the first time and they allow these guys, who are not trained, to mislead them with wrong information and lure them up to the hills.
"Some of them then complain about the cost as we hear that the guys charge them up to $2,000 for a bath," Downie said.
It costs $600 to soak in one of the pools for around 20 minutes, the maximum time professionals believe that the body should stay in it. Nightly room rates at the property range from $4,800 to $5,600.
"A lot of people are afraid of these guys. When they (touts) see a vehicle coming toward the fountain, they walk or ride towards it and try to divert them. We have reported the matter to the police but they do very little about it," Downie complained. However, Bath police representative, special constable Caswayne Fuller said that he had seen no recent record of a complaint made by the Bath Fountain or from visitors.
"I am a new kid on the block, but for the past two weeks I haven't seen or heard of any complaint being reported to us. I have also checked the book and have seen nothing," Fuller said. But Downie is insisting that the police need to do more.
"Most of the activities occur after 1:00 o'clock in the afternoon when we get most of our visitors. That's when the guys approach the visitors most. The police have been told that, but they would come here at times around 10 o'clock in the morning and leave after a few minutes when nothing is happening.
"It is putting a dent on the community and most people who come say they are not returning. The hotel has written to the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, who has also written to the permanent secretary in the Ministry of National Security, but nothing has happened.
"Approval was granted by the National Works Agency and the parish council for the gate to the entrance to be pushed further down the road, but when the work should have started, the guys started to protest and the workmen backed off. Nothing has happened since," Downie added.
Member of Parliament for Eastern St Thomas, Dr Fenton Ferguson corroborated Downie's information, saying he believed the problem was getting worse and that there was a need to turn things around.
"What is taking place now didn't happen overnight. It has been a process over time whereby during the period you find that the fountain having developed a reputation and having the springs in the hills, a number of persons from the neighbouring communities have formed relationships with guests coming to the Bath Fountain.
"Many of them have gone out and have learnt to some extent the skills, in terms of massaging etc. Many of them have their clients, local and overseas, who come in at different times of the year and they perform their activities and leave very pleased.
"What has happened in recent years is, as the economic situation worsens, you find more and more persons are looking to the Bath Fountain as an area of revenue. You would see with vendors selling mangoes or any other product, you see the tendency now that once there is the arrival of a guest or guests, you find that persons are literally fighting to get to them."
Ferguson said the complaints had been getting louder in the last five or so years, because some of the youngsters had "become boisterous and even vicious and to that extent whether it is tourists local or overseas, many become frightened by their actions and activities".
The MP said that the fountain had been on the agenda for divestment for over 25 years and a decision needed to be made now as to what should happen to it.
<span style="font-weight: bold">But the tourism ministry has apparently changed its mind about selling the property</span>
. "<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-weight: bold">As far as I know</span> </span>, it is no longer up for divestment, said Tina Williams of the tourism ministry's communications division. "Plans for divestment have been shelved. A Cabinet decision was taken last year in relation to Bath and Milk River (Hotel and Spa)," Williams said.Ferguson, who was a minister of state in the previous People's National Party (PNP) government, said efforts had been made to deal with the problem of harassment.
"There have been recommendations to see how we can regularise some of those persons into becoming tour guides and even in terms of additional training that they too can become masseurs or carry out certain kinds of health-related activities, by virtue of having been around for sometime," he said.
"We have not got to that point, because every time the divestment process gets to a certain stage, there is something that comes up to abort it and with that it's almost like starting all over again. "I am going to be initiating again with the management and the tourism ministry to see to what extent we will be able to get some action going, relative to these persons. There is a strong possibility that we can strike some kind of partnership."
Despite the problem of touts, the resort said, no guest had been harmed and hotel executives were anxious to clear up doubts about the operation of the facility, saying it remains open for business, in spite of recent rains in the area.
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