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Photo by Janet Silvera Members of the Indian party who arrived on the island on Friday night en route to Barbados for the finals of the Cricket World Cup 2007. They were hosted by the Jamaica Tourist Board, Jamaica Trade and Invest and Air Jamaica.

Indians test Ja's waters

Noel Thompson, Hospitality Jamaica Writer

A record 130 Indian nationals graced the western city of Montego Bay last Friday night for a one-night stay and were hosted at an official reception at the Rose Hall Resort and Country Club.

The group travelled for more than 30 hours from their homeland via London, before arriving in Montego Bay on the 'Lovebird' - Air Jamaica. They were in the island on the invitation of the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), Air Jamaica and the Indian community of Montego Bay.

Their visit was as a result of a recent trip to India by Government officials to forge business and investment relationships. Initially, more than 500 Indians were scheduled to visit. However, due to India's defeat in the ICC Cricket World Cup, some members of the party reneged on their travel plans. The entire group, all of whom are employees of Indian-based conglomerate - Reliance Group, were sponsored by the company.

"We are very happy for the Reliance Group visit to Jamaica. We feel there are a number of business opportunities for Jamaica and India. We feel that Jamaica is open for business at this point," said Robert Kerr, senior consultant in investment promotion markets division at Jamaica Trade and Invest (JAMPRO).

specific opportunities

Kerr added that the visit was as a result of a visit they made to India in which specific opportunities were identified in areas such as film and cultural industries for Indian companies to be involved in Jamaica.

"We have seen a number of areas which we can explore such as mineral exploration and areas that require a great deal of capital and the Reliance Group can certainly provide some of that, so we look forward to exploring the opportunities and to discuss their interests in further details," Kerr stated.

Air Jamaica's director of World Cup Cricket and special events, Richard Lue, said: "We wanted to give them a nice taste of Jamaica with the intention that we can bring a larger group later this year."

Looking at the broader picture, Lue feels that Jamaica stands to benefit significantly in the future both from the Indians' visit, as well as the hosting of the ICC Cricket World Cup.

"Nobody is going to hand us business. We have to seek the opportunities. We have done a lot of work in new markets such as India and Ireland to promote the World Cup and we have made some good contacts. If it wasn't for the World Cup, this group (Indians) would have no intention of coming to the Caribbean," Lue said.