KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett will be tapping into digital media as a main channel of distribution to launch a 10-minute back-to-work ‘training’ video.

The video is aimed at educating tourism workers about the new health and safety procedures to continue prevention of the spread of COVID-19, following the sector’s reopening on June 15.

“The safety and wellbeing of our workers remains paramount as we begin a phased reopening of the sector. The video provides essential information on how workers can protect themselves, their colleagues, visitors and family from the disease on a daily basis,” Bartlett said.

The video, which was produced by the ministry’s training arm, the Jamaica Centre of Tourism Innovation (JCTI), will make use of digital and social media channels to distribute the video to ensure maximum accessibility to the content.

It will be published on the ministry’s website (www.mot.gov.jm), the Tourism Enhancement Fund website (tef.gov.jm), Jamaica Tourist Board website (www.visitjamaica.com), Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) website (www.tpdco.org), as well as the TEF and ministry’s social media platforms.

The minister indicated that the digital media distribution of the video was a strategic decision, after seeing the impact of digital and social media platforms in the dissemination of information during the countrywide lockdowns.

“During these lockdowns, we have seen the impact of digital and social platforms as tools for information sharing. We have several thousand workers in the tourism industry, so mass communication of important information has to be a priority and it is with that in mind that we have decided to utilise these channels, as it is proving to be the most effective,” he said.

The ministry said the video will feature five two-minute parts, which will take the format of: a brief background on COVID-19; what tourism workers should do on their way to work; what they should do while they are at work; what they should do when they are leaving work and what they should do if they become sick.

Director of the JCTI, Carol Brown highlighted that although the video is specifically targeting tourism workers, it could be beneficial to everyone returning to work.