SEVERAL activities will be held to mark this year’s Tourism Awareness Week (TAW) from September 22 to 28.

The period will also incorporate the observance of World Tourism Day on September 27. The theme will be: ‘Tourism and Jobs: A better future for all’.

The week will commence with a thanksgiving service at Church on the Rock in St Andrew, on Sunday, September 22.

Throughout the week, the ministry will utilise the print, electronic, and social media to highlight the career opportunities, traditional and non-traditional jobs available in the sector.

Giving details about the slew of activities at a JIS Think Tank, on Friday, Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) Marketing Communications Manager Essie Gardner said that advertorials will be published throughout the week in the two major local newspapers.

“The advertorials will feature the minister’s TAW message; the ministry’s human capital development strategy; Team Jamaica and other training programmes by the Tourism Product Development Company; and the work of  the Jamaica Centre of Tourism Innovation,” Gardner outlined.

She added that other publications will highlight jobs in marketing the tourism industry by the JTB; the Tourism Linkages Network initiatives; and Jamaica Vacations Limited’s thrust in hiring individuals to transform the cruise experience.

Gardner noted that a career expo will be staged at the JTB’s library at its Kingston offices, while tourism sector players will engage students at select schools across the island in career talks.

Major highlights for the week will be the Tourism Linkages Network’s pop up kitchen and fashion show on September 25 at the PANJAM Breezeway in New Kingston, and the Tourism Career Expo and concert to be held in Kingston on World Tourism Day.

Gardner said that this year’s observance of TAW will showcase tourism as an inclusive industry and a strong driver of economic growth and development, providing several earning opportunities.

“Our focus is getting Jamaicans aware of the impact of tourism on national development and the role that Jamaica is playing on a global scale in terms of having policies which  indicate that tourism really is a driver for our economy,” she added.

World Tourism Day is celebrated on September 27 each year to foster awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political, and economic value.

As the official day set aside on the United Nations calendar, the celebration seeks to highlight tourism’s potential to contribute to reaching the sustainable development goals and addressing some of the most pressing challenges of today.