Participants in the recently concluded third Tourism Linkages Speed Networking event are hailing it as a major success, saying the event has opened doors for well-needed business opportunities.

The event was hosted by the Tourism Linkages Hub in partnership with the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), the Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association (JMA), the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) among other entities at the Hilton Rose Hall Resort and Spa near Montego Bay, St James.

The Tourism Linkages Hub puts producers of Jamaican goods and services in direct contact with operators in the tourism sector with the aim of getting more locally made products into hotels and other entities within the sector. While agriculture and manufacturing took the spotlight at the first Speed Networking event, this year providers of entertainment and construction goods and services, had the opportunity to meet with tourism decision-makers.

For Chief Executive Officer of Cleopatra’s Collections Cleopatra Charles, “the linkage is excellent”. She has long wanted to supply the hotel sector with her fashion creations and now “we are meeting people whom we never dreamed of meeting as it was hard to get to them at the different hotels”.

Earl ‘Biggy’ Turner, well known in the entertainment industry for his popular Biggy Fashions, also attended for the first time and was satisfied that “I’ve met a lot of the hotel representatives and I received good, positive response; it’s for me now to go back and package what it is I’m expecting to sell them, which is fashion to complement the music”.

Benjamin Hodura, vice-president of Marketing at Isratech Jamaica Limited, which provides irrigation systems as well as water treatment and energy solutions, was also thankful for the exposure his company enjoyed. He said “The event was good and we made some good connections. We stayed the entire day and met with everyone and made the best of it.”

Simone Harris, executive director of 360 Artistes, an arts management agency, was very pleased with the reception she received at the speed networking event which she was attending for the first time, declaring: “I think this is an absolutely great opportunity for the creative industries, for the price. I mean, if I was to try to meet individually with all these buyers here I couldn’t afford it, not in time and in money; this is a great opportunity to sit face to face with the people who make the decisions about entertainment in their properties.”

Harris holds the view that the facilitation provided by the Tourism Linkages Hub gives an opportunity to change the perception that local performers are not welcome by the hotel sector. “We spend a lot of time complaining but this is the opportunity to make a change; stop complaining, make a change,” she says.