Sumfest delivers for organisers, tourism, vendors
Patrons want better security arrangements to limit stampedes, pickpockets
Published:Tuesday | July 22, 2025 | 12:07 AMAdrian Frater/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
While the organisers of Reggae Sumfest 2025 are yet to do their official post-mortem on the festival, Junior Tourism Minister Senator Delano Seiveright has declared it a resounding success in terms of its economic impact, with Airbnb hosts cashing in on the week-long festival.
“Hotels and Airbnbs across St James, Hanover and Trelawny, for the most part, were fully booked,” said Seiveright.
“Also, flights into the island were packed, and ... ground transport operators, countless small businesses, vendors and hairdressers saw increased activities and earnings,” he added, noting that events like Sumfest continue to highlight the power of entertainment and culture in driving economic opportunity and community improvement across the west.
While the economic projection for Reggae Sumfest was put at US$12 million by the Jamaica Tourist Board, which said it was expecting some 8,000 visitors to flock to the island for the event, based on the initial reaction from Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, the numbers could well surpass the projection
“This has been the largest crowd I’ve seen at Reggae Sumfest,” stated Bartlett, who, in a pre-festival interview, said the pulling power of ‘Dancehall King’ Vybz Kartel, on Night One, would cause a spike in the customary numbers. “We’re [now] looking at how the surge in tourism activity, increased hotel bookings, and vendor sales translate for the economy.”
Shortly after walking around the grounds at Catherine Hall Centre on Saturday night, Joe Bogdanovich, CEO of Downsound Entertainment, the promoters of the seven-day festival, told The Gleaner that he was quite pleased with what he was seeing.
“The people are quite happy, and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, which is what we really want to see,” said Bogdanovich. “Sumfest is about providing high-quality entertainment to the people, and I think we are doing just that.”
However, some Friday night patrons who experienced two major stampedes, which resulted in injury to multiple patrons, want the organisers to put in measures to prevent any reccurence.
“I lost my wallet and phone in the stampede, which basically left me penniless and without the ability to call my family or friends to explan what had happened to me,” said United States-based Jamaican George Grant, who came home primarily to attend the festival.
BRAZEN PICKPOCKETS
Like Grant, some patrons also complained about the large number of brazen pickpockets who roamed the Catherine Hall venue with impunity, even responding with violence whenever they were challenged.
“You would be standing there dancing, and you just feel someone bump into you and the next thing is, you feel hands roaming all over your body,” a female victim told The Gleaner on Saturday, referencing her Friday night experience. “The organiser needs to put more plainclothes police in the crowd to protect patrons.”
However, for many of the food vendors, who all but formed a ring around the outside of the venue, they haven’t had it so good in terms of earnings in many years.
“On Friday night, I had the best one-night sale since Reggae Sunsplash days at Jarrett Park. We ‘bathe’ (make money) this year,” said a food vendor, who identified himself only as ‘Stylo’. “If a Vybz Kartel really bring out this crowd, I would like to get his address, so that I can send him a postcard for Christmas.”