Bartlett: Tourism presents opportunities for Jamaicans to create wealth

Bartlett reiterated that a $100 million loan fund has been created by the Tourism Enhancement Fund specifically to assist in bolstering micro, small and medium size enterprises that supply goods and services to the tourism sector
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KINGSTON, Jamaica, Wednesday March 30, 201 - Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica's tourism minister, says more Jamaicans should view the tourism industry as a catalyst for wealth creation as it represents a large and viable market within our borders for the supply of local goods and services.

Addressing Rotarians attending the Rotary Club of St. Andrew’s weekly luncheon yesterday at the Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston, Bartlett emphasized that the Jamaican market constituted much more than the approximately 2.7 million-population. He said the almost three million tourists that come here are also part of the domestic market, and therefore assist in stimulating demand for goods and services locally.

“When a plane lands at the airport or a cruise ship comes in the harbour it brings wealth and the arrival of visitors into the country to stay for extended periods is an expansion of the domestic market,” the minister stressed. “What you do with the market, as you do with the wealth that is brought to you by those two key carriers, will determine by and large whether or not you would have achieved the economic enablement which tourism offers,” he added.

In this regard, Bartlett highlighted that efforts to grow visitor arrivals have been reaping success, as indicated by the latest figures coming out of the Jamaica Tourist Board which show that total visitor arrivals, both stopover and cruise, increased by 9.4 percent from 962, 809 to 1,053,737 since the start of the Winter Tourist Season to date. This is in comparison to the same period last year. Bartlett noted that this marks the first time Jamaica has welcomed over one million visitors over a three month period. Over the same period, earnings increased by 7.4 percent, from US$ 714.1 million to US$766.6 million.

“What this means is that we are on track to surpass the two million stopover arrivals of which we have projected and inline to welcome possibly 3.5 million overall and earn well in excess of the elusive US$2 billion,” the tourism minister projected.

This growth, he pointed out, is also an indication of the existence of a tremendous opportunity for the supply of goods and services by Jamaican entrepreneurs to a growing market within our borders. The fact that Jamaica has not been able to retain more of the earnings from tourism in the local economy is an indication of the inability of local businesses to cater adequately to the demand. As such Bartlett urged Jamaican entrepreneurs, especially those in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors to take advantage of the opportunities that exist in tourism so that more of the earnings can remain in the country. “If we are unable to do that, the demand will be there but the wealth that this demand has predicated, will go back on the ships that came and the planes that fly in,” he warned.

Within this context, Bartlett reiterated that a $100 million loan fund has been created by the Tourism Enhancement Fund specifically to assist in bolstering micro, small and medium size enterprises that supply goods and services to the tourism sector. In particular, he said there is growing demand for organic foods in the tourism sector, hence special attention will be paid to applicants wanting to grow organic produce to supply the sector. Under the special loan programme, applicants can access up to $5 million at an interest rate of five percent on the reducing balance for five years.

Bartlett also mentioned efforts to tap the Inter-American Development Bank for a special loan facility to assist local businesses in improving their operations in order to adequately meet the demand for the goods and services in the tourism sector. (JIS)