KINGSTON, Jamaica— Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett has announced that registered airport red cap porters are among workers in the tourism industry slated to benefit from the Government’s $10-billion COVID Allocation of Resources for Employees (CARE) Programme.

Bartlett made the announcement recently during a digital media briefing hosted by the tourism ministry.  

Bartlett said red caps were chosen among the targeted beneficiaries, based on a special request to the Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr Nigel Clarke.

“Red caps were particularly vulnerable in all of this, and I really want to single them out… because of how central they are as some of the first respondents at the airport when visitors come to the island,” Bartlett said.

The ministry said the other categories of businesses and workers in the remaining 18 categories must be registered and licensed with the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) and Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) in order to qualify for the programme.

The remaining categories include hotels, attractions, villas, apartments, water sport operators, in-bond merchants, tour operators, guest houses, homestay, car rentals, bike rentals, travel agency companies, raft captains, craft vendors, craft producers, contract carriage, golf caddies and individual tour guides.

The minister highlighted that the tourism industry will be the main beneficiary of the economic stimulus package, as the sector has been identified as “the first industry to bring back the economy”, post COVID-19. 

The CARE Programme aims to provide financial assistance to workers and businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The package involves the temporary transfer of cash to individuals and businesses to cushion the pandemic’s economic impact. Applications can be made at the www.wecare.gov.jm website.