Casualty #1
Plymouth Jazz Festival called off
Earl Manmohan Scarborough
Trinidad Express
Tuesday, February 17th 2009
The 2009 edition of the popular Plymouth Jazz Festival is off.
CL Communications CEO Tony Maharaj, in announcing this yesterday, blamed the cancellation of this year's event on the global economic crisis rather than Clico's financial woes. He was adamant that the event had not been cancelled but postponed until next year.
Clico was one of the main sponsors of the festival for the past four years. However, THA Tourism Secretary, Oswald Williams, told the media the Assembly was planning an alternative event for the same weekend to accommodate those who had already booked accommodation and made travel arrangements.
Two weeks ago, Maharaj had dispelled rumours that the festival, which was scheduled for April 24 to 26 at the Plymouth Recreation Ground, was off because CL Financial had pulled out. In fact, a press conference scheduled for last Wednesday was rescheduled at the last minute to Thursday and then yesterday. The reason given for the Wednesday postponement was that members of the committee were in deep discussions on the event.
Yesterday at the Mount Irvine Bay Hotel, Maharaj said it would have been reckless and not financially prudent to continue with the event when all indicators were showing it would not have been well attended. "What caused it was that when we started getting our information, as we have always done from our travel agents abroad, what we were finding was that people, because of the world economic crisis, were very concerned about the affordability of coming to Tobago," he said.
Maharaj said there was a clear distinction between Clico and CL Financial, and stressed that Clico was an individual sponsor just as Colfire, b-Mobile and others. He added that when Clico pulled out, they were immediately replaced by another sponsor and two other major sponsors showed interest in the event.
He also attributed the poor response to the festival to the exorbitant rates charged by some local hotels during the period, noting that this situation had to be addressed.
"In business, people have to act prudently and it would have been reckless of the Plymouth Jazz Festival Committee and the THA to say that we will still have the festival even if 2,000 people come," Maharaj said.
He said it was not certain if the $50 million event will be held in April next year and the possibility existed that it could be held later in the year.
The Plymouth Jazz festival started in 2005 and has featured foreign acts like Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Sting and Whitney Houston.