BUSINESSES in San Fernando reported a 25 per cent drop in sales yesterday, on what was dubbed ’Summit Friday’.

President of the San Fernando Business Association, Daphne Bartlett, told the Express that many of her business associates were planning to close their businesses an hour earlier than usual to allow their staff to get to their homes to witness history in the making with the opening of the Fifth Summit of the Americas at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain.

She said the decision was prompted mainly by a slowdown in activity in the southern city, as many shoppers decided to stay away.

’A lot of people were saying that sales were a bit slower than normal,’ Bartlett said.

’This may be due to the fact that some shoppers told us that they were afraid to face whatever traffic restrictions and security checks they might have been subjected to ahead of Saturday’s visit by spouses of the visiting delegates to the Summit.’

Their fears did not materialise though, as it was, more or less, ’business as usual’ with little evidence of any increased security.

The spouses of the visiting Heads of State will visit the Wild Fowl Trust in Pointe-a-Pierre today, before leaving for King’s Wharf, San Fernando, for a trip by water taxi back to the Hyatt Regency Hotel.