MONTEGO BAY, St James — With the increased presence of Spanish investors and developments in the local tourism sector, Senator Delano Seiveright is urging local players to build out their Spanish speaking capabilities.

The state minister in the tourism ministry was speaking at the launch of the Jill Stewart MoBay City Run that was held at Sandals Montego Bay on Monday.

“It’s not a luxury, it’s now a strategic necessity and as a country a lot more needs to be given to language learning and certainly learning Spanish; it’s very important,” he told those gathered.

Jamaica’s tourism market has seen a major uptick in Spanish-owned enterprises over the last decade with hotels such as Iberostar, Grand Palladium, RIU, and others dotting the local landscape.

“I’ve had my own difficulties in some of our engagements with owners and managers of a number of…Spanish-speaking companies,” Seiveright admitted.

“It’s their default language and what has happened is that Dominicans and Mexicans have a distinct competitive edge. I am not saying that everybody must drop everything and learn Spanish, but I am saying this: more Jamaican companies keen on direct engagement must include some Spanish fluency, somewhere in their company,” he urged.

“We’re the English-speaking Caribbean and they have a large and growing presence here and we have to adjust accordingly,” Seiveright insisted.

Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) President Robin Russell agreed that Spanish-speaking skills can be an advantage and noted that steps are already being taken to capitalise on that.

“We just did a conference last week with…the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, where teachers are going to be trained in Spanish and we’re putting together a programme,” Russell told the Jamaica Observer.

“The Jamaica Centre for Tourism Innovation (JCTI) is a part of it. Spanish will be taught at a conversational level, even more than a theoretical level, which will really help us to tap into the market of the Spanish-speaking nations that are coming to Jamaica,” he added.

The JHTA president also pointed out that speaking the language may open doors for some Jamaicans to get jobs overseas.

“It could provide opportunities for them to go even to other countries to work, learning about their culture and come back with more knowledge,” said Russell.