Thursday’s attempted robbery of two tourists who had gone horseback riding in the Laughing Waters area of St Ann has drawn the ire of tourism stakeholders.
“This is a cause for concern but I’m happy no one was hurt,” Vana Taylor, chairperson of the Ocho Rios Runaway Bay Chapter of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association, told The Sunday Gleaner.
Reports are that Jordan Reid, 30, a firefighter of White Palm, and Marcus Coleman, 29, of Baltimore, both in the United States, were on vacation at the Excellence Hotel in Trelawny and made the trip to St Ann for the popular activity on Thursday.
While they were riding, two masked men accosted them with guns and demanded their belongings.
However, an alarm was raised and the men ran into nearby bushes without getting anything from their intended victims.
No one was hurt during the incident, the police later confirmed.
Taylor said the incident will be discussed at the next meeting of the chapter.
Jamaica’s tourism industry is slowly returning to normal after being severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the closure of the country’s borders in March last year.
While the figure for stopover visitors is trending up, cruise ship arrivals are still on pause. However, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett recently noted that based on current projections, he expects a full return of the cruise industry between August and October this year.