ST JAMES, Jamaica (JIS) – Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett says Jamaica will be seeking to pursue farm tourism, which has a lucrative travel market worldwide.

He noted that many tour operators have been pushing this market in various countries and that Jamaica is geographically poised to benefit from it.

“The link between agriculture and tourism is something that we take very seriously and something which has the potential to solve many of our problems,” Bartlett said in an interview with JIS News.

He cited the Agro Parks initiative where over 6,000 acres of land have been brought into production.

“Can you imagine our visitors going on organised tours to these farms…where the opportunity is there for them to also have lunch and dinner, eating the same produce from these farms,” Bartlett said.

“More jobs would be created, more people would get into farming, the farmers would be able to earn foreign exchange, and the Jamaica Tourist Board, would have another niche market to promote. This would be another huge plus for our economy,” he added.

Meanwhile, Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw, told JIS News that agriculture and tourism are both inextricably linked and are critical to the positive growth numbers his ministry is pursuing.

“Here in Jamaica we are fortunate to have two very powerful sectors in tourism and agriculture that potentially can take us to the promise land. There are so many ways they can feed off each other that we can’t help but to be entirely upbeat about the potential that is staring us in the face,” Shaw said.