TOURISM Minister Edmund Bartlett says that his ministry plans to increase engagements with a wide range of stakeholders, in both the public and private sectors, to unlock new opportunities to grow the industry.

He said that by increasing engagements with stakeholders in the six resort destinations and other investors and entrepreneurs, the ministry will be able to to identify opportunities to advance the intended outcome of its Tourism Strategy and Action Plan (TSAP).

Opening the 2022/23 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives Tuesday, Bartlett said the tourism market is one of constant and accelerating change, and important trends such as hyper digitalisation, an increasing demand for immersive experiences, the growing sustainable travel movement, and sharp preference contrasts between generations were not necessarily being caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic, but were expedited by it.

However, he cautioned that there are also threats to the industry, with the growing belief among many climate scientists that Jamaica has entered an Anthropocene era, with impacts on its natural environment being foremost among them.

“The Tourism Strategy and Action Plan will help us to boost the competitiveness of our destination and products, enhance resilience, as well as develop and deploy mechanisms to promote innovation and entrepreneurship within the sector,” he told the House.

He said that, consequently, moving the TSAP towards finalisation is one of the most critical planning objectives of the ministry for 2022/23.

“To accomplish this, the ministry will facilitate greater engagement with a wide range of stakeholders in the public and private sectors, with stakeholders in the six resort destinations, with investors, with entrepreneurs, to identify opportunities to advance the intended outcomes of the TSAP and build consensus on how Jamaica can unlock these opportunities,” he said.

The TSAP 2030 has been developed in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and will focus on the competitiveness of the tourism sector, especially in relation to information technology and the Internet, and the resilience of the sector, especially in relation to climate change.

The minister added that, with the relaxation of the COVID-19 protocols, coupled with the aforementioned strategy and policies, it is time for the country to “leggo the bird”, which, he mused, “is symbolic of not only looking forward to a complete recovery, but to thrive beyond our pre-COVID figures”.

He said that, according to the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), it is estimated that 90 per cent of tourism workers have returned to work full-time in the accommodation sub-sector, while 70 per cent of workers have been brought back to work in the attractions sub-sector. According to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (Statin), the total tourism labour force for October 2021 was 153,200, which represented 89 per cent of the sector’s workers in 2019, which averaged 170,900.

“As Jamaica’s tourism industry continues to grow, 2022 is proving to be promising. Year to date we have seen over 680,000 stopover and cruise visitors with weekend after weekend of record arrivals in recent weeks. This should see us closing out the first four months of the year with 925,000 stopover arrivals and earnings of US$1.17 billion,” he revealed.

He said he was pleased to say that the industry was expected to close out 2022 with total visitor arrivals of 2.92 million for total revenue of US$3.58 billion.

“These figures underscore that the tourism sector is the driving force behind Jamaica’s post-COVID-19 economic recovery,” Bartlett said, adding that data released by Statin show Jamaica achieving impressive growth of 6.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2021, with tourism leading the way in “driving significant growth in the overall economy and other industries”.

Bartlett also pointed out that for fiscal year 2021/2022, based on the recovery, the tourism sector’s contribution to government revenue represented approximately 70 per cent of what it contributed for 2019/2020.

“This improvement reflected the impact of increased demand, particularly from the tourism sector, which has grown with the relaxation of COVID-19 measures as well as other steps taken to improve output from the sector,” he said.

“I am extremely proud of how our tourism stakeholders and partners, like the JHTA, rallied in the midst of uncertainty to get the industry back on track and get our tourism workers back on the job. Because of this hard work and unity of purpose, the future of tourism is looking bright,” he argued.

“By the end of 2023, the number of visitors to Jamaica is predicted to reach 4.1 million, with 1.6 million cruise passengers, 2.5 million stopover arrivals, and US$4.2 billion in revenue,” he said.

The debate will continue in the House of Representatives next week Tuesday at 2:00 pm.