ST JAMES, Jamaica – The Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) held its inaugural Bring Your Application Day event at the Hibiscus Lounge in Ocho Rios, St Ann, on Thursday, May 19.

The event facilitated on-the-spot tourism licensing for tourism businesses. It also included consultations with partnering agencies such as the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), the Public Health Authority, insurance brokers, the National Environmental Planning Agency (NEPA and the St Ann Municipal Corporation.

Licence Processing Administration Manager at TPDCo, Sheryll Lewis, said the event was initially slated to be held in March 2020 but was postponed due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lewis further informed that the TPDCo was facilitating the application process on behalf of the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB).

“We have brought the various agencies here, along with the [tourism] operators to bring their applications because we have our other offices in Montego Bay, Kingston, Mandeville, Negril and Falmouth … so the applications will come through the regional offices then into Kingston,” she said.

“What my department, the licence processing unit, decided to do was take [the process] across the island to various locations so persons can just come in [to us] with their applications. They can go through it, process it … pay the respective fees for the application and once everything is ok, we take it back to our office in Kingston for further processing,” Lewis outlined.

She highlighted that among the benefits of being licensed is the opportunity to benefit from the tourism workers’ pension scheme and advertising on the JTB website.

She noted that the event will be moving across the island with its next staging to be held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James on June 2, followed by a staging in Negril, Westmoreland at the Riu Hotel on June 21.

The event will be held in Kingston at the Terra Nova Hotel on June 24, and this will be followed by a staging at Jake’s in St Elizabeth on July 12.