£1m well spent

[RichD]

'<span style="font-weight: bold">£1m well spent'</span>
Gov't defends London expenditure
BY LUKE DOUGLAS Senior staff reporter [email protected]
Tuesday, August 21, 2012





The Government yesterday declared that its promotional activities at the London Olympics have already begun to reap rewards, and said more business will flow in tourism, exports and investments in the near future.
The Government also defended the sending of five ministers to London and the expenditure of £1 million to stage Jamaica House 2012 at the O2 Arena, a special facility showcasing Jamaica's authentic products while marketing the country's business opportunities and the tourism industry.

&quot;I think it would have been irresponsible if they were not there as policymakers to answer the questions of the persons we were inviting to Jamaica and who we want to do business with,&quot; Information Minister Sandrea Falconer stated at a post-Olympics press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday.
&quot;I think sometimes we quibble over the smallest things and we speak about a few dollars when, if our policymakers had not gone, we would have lost out on bigger things.&quot;
Falconer was flanked by three senior ministers — Roger Clarke (agriculture), Anthony Hylton (industry and commerce), and Dr Wykeham McNeil (tourism and entertainment) — as well as tourism junior minister Damion Crawford who all made the trip to London as part of what they termed a &quot;joined-up government&quot; effort to secure benefits for the country in the wake of the outstanding performance of the country's Olympic team.
Of the budget for the effort, £150,000 came from sponsorship. <span style="font-weight: bold">The figure, however, does not include the bill for travel and accommodation of the four government ministers — including sports minister Natalie Neita-Headley — and five other persons who assisted the ministerial delegation.</span>
Crawford's trip was paid for by the Caricom secretariat, Dr McNeil disclosed.
&quot;Jamaica House was a huge success, maybe more successful than we had the capacity to maintain, but is certainly a concept we will use moving forward,&quot; Dr McNeil said in defending the promotional effort. &quot;I think it would have been a disgrace if we had not used the London Olympics to maximise the benefits (to the country).&quot;
Dr McNeil also disclosed that visitor arrivals from the UK are showing a six per cent increase for May through August over last year, after showing a nine per cent decline last year.
Ministers McNeil and Hylton defended Crawford's role in London, saying that the dreadlocked minister hosted a high-level forum on the effect on Caricom of the Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union, among other things.
While in the UK, Crawford had 'tweeted' that he and several Jamaican entertainers who performed there &quot;shell dung a club in London&quot;, a slang term indicating that they found time to party in the UK capital.
Among the things they said were achieved in England were:
* Meetings with over 300 travel agents and tour operators;
* 600 accredited media filing stories about Jamaica House;
* More than 2,000 visitors to Jamaica House per day for 10 days;
* 36,000 new seats from UK confirmed for next year;
* Meetings with 500 potential investors, distributors and business partners;
* 13 investment leads made in manufacturing and business process outsourcing, etc
* $14 million in retail sales for 95 local manufacturers;
* 340 million viewers reached through broadcast;
* 30,000 consumers exposed to Jamaican products at Birmingham event;
* Meeting with consortium on sale of fresh produce to UK; and
* Meeting with an investor on the sale of a cocoa farm in St Mary.


Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...#ixzz24CXKJlSK

[evanovitch]

Re: £1m well spent

said way dem young adult's arm of the party naw seh wat is wat wid di member who order n get 1000 cell phones from a carrier supposedly widdout permission...no news wat di phones was fah, n if dem pay for or return...this PNP has been one scandal after another ....yet Manatt n Dusus shut dung JLP...go figga

[mangoskin]

Re: £1m well spent

how come Caricom paid for Crawford? What was the justification?

[Blackstar*]

Re: £1m well spent

Simple answer: more people died due to the SoE under Golding than PSM's trip.

[RichD]

Re: £1m well spent

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">$14 million in retail sales for 95 local manufacturers;</div></div>

wonder if these are tax paying manufacturers

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: £1m well spent

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: mangoskin</div><div class="ubbcode-body">how come Caricom paid for Crawford? What was the justification? </div></div>Well because Crawford is an intellectual whos knowledge of the economic influence of the caricom group in European trade. Ge was selected as keynote speaker on tge subject by tge caricom Secretariat.

[RichD]

Re: £1m well spent

r something like that

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">OURISM MINISTER Dr Wykeham McNeill has clarified questions surrounding the presence of his state minister Damion Crawford at the recent London Olympics.

McNeill, speaking at Monday's press briefing to explain Jamaica's gains during a inter-ministerial trip to the games, said Crawford went to the United Kingdom for three days, as guest of the Commonwealth Secretariat, a trip Crawford said was fully paid for by Carib-Export.

&quot;He hosted the (CARIFORUM) seminar on the effect of the EPA (Economic Partnership Agreement) on the creative industries. That was the element of what he was there (for),&quot; said McNeill.

CARIFORUM is the group of African, Caribbean and Pacific States and serves as base for economic dialogue with the European Union. Carib-Export is the only regional trade and investment promotion agency in the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of states.

McNeill pointed out that as state minister for entertainment, Crawford also linked up with entertainers who were in the city at the time.

&quot;While we were in London, there were a series of other things taking place, serious things, dealing with Jamaica, dealing with the Caribbean, and we were using the Olympics as a period of time when we could get the interest of the world and put our information out there,&quot; he said.

Industry Minister Anthony Hylton also confirmed Crawford's presentation at the CARIFORUM event. Hylton, who gave the main address, said the forum addressed serious issues and said it was appropriate Jamaica had a ministerial presence at an event that held importance for the country.

&quot;I certainly fully endorse his appearance and presentation,&quot; he said.</div></div>

[RichD]

Re: £1m well spent

Former Generation 2000 President Delano Seiveright is refusing to accept junior tourism minister Damion Crawford's clarification of his &quot;shell dung&quot; comment on Twitter.

Seiveright said the response of both Crawford and Information Minister Sandrea Falconer with regard to the tweet, during Monday's press conference on Government officials' trip to London, England, for the Olympics, had &quot;missed the point&quot;.

&quot;The fact is that the Ministry of Tourism in part oversaw the spending of over J$140 million or £1 million of taxpayers' dollars in London for supposedly promotional activities and clearly failed at converting the high expenditure into value for money,&quot; said Seiveright.

Twitter battle

Crawford and Seiveright got into a Twitter battle over the issue, including their followers in the conversation. Seiveright repeatedly asked what the money was used for while Crawford accused Seiveright of knowing &quot;the truth&quot; but continuing to lie.

Speaking with The Gleaner yesterday, Seiveright stressed he felt there was very little social media effort in London, no intense booking efforts nor any evidence of effective networking that would bring tangible benefits to the Jamaican economy. He said Crawford's tweet only helped to &quot;add insult to injury in the midst of the failed promotional activities&quot;.

&quot;With Jamaica riveted by economic crisis and poverty and lacking direction from the ruling administration, it is not only insensitive but also reprehensible that Damion Crawford, as a minister of state, saw it fit to party the night away at a club in one of the world's most expensive cities,&quot; Seiveright said he felt &quot;glorious opportunities&quot; had been missed and that Tourism Minister Dr Wykeham McNeill and Crawford &quot;should quickly gather the best and brightest marketing minds to make an effective come back&quot;.