MONTEGO BAY, St James — Arguing that the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) is not being used for its original purpose, former managing director of the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) Kingsley Thomas is adamant that it needs to return to its roots.

“We have to insist that the Tourism Enhancement Fund reverts to its original mandate and must be used to improve our main towns, develop attractions, and that all of this must be prioritised to ensure sustainability of our tourism sector,” he said.

Thomas was addressing standard-bearers during the People’s National Party (PNP) Region Six Outreach Committees fund-raising cocktail party held at Grand-a-View Restaurant and Event Place in Montego Bay last Thursday night. The event’s theme was ‘Learning from history to navigate tomorrow’.

“One of the things, however, that was very critical was that the proceeds of the Tourism Enhancement Fund — which currently brings in close to US$30 million per year to Jamaica — should not be used for recurrent expenditure, and PR [public relations], and travels overseas. But [it] should be used to develop the tourism capitals like Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, Negril and also, critically, attractions,” he insisted.

Widely regarded as the development point man for the PNP-led Administration of 1992–2006, Thomas headed the DBJ for more than 16 years, up to 2005. He was also an advisor to the PNP president and Prime Minister P J Patterson.

On Thursday he shared that he was the one who conceptualised the TEF after a trip to the Dominican Republic where he received the template and presented it to the then minister of tourism upon his return to Jamaica.

He claimed that when he proposed the initiative it was opposed by current Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett.

“I met with the [then] minister of tourism, tourism officials, two tourism stakeholders, and he accepted it. I wrote the Cabinet submission; I assisted in writing the parliamentary paper,” Thomas said.

“I would like to just say one thing: The current minister of tourism objected to the Tourism Enhancement Fund. Go and check Hansard, I have [the record of] it!” he said.

The former DBJ head also lamented that Jamaica, considered the tourism capital of the world, is without a venue where tourists can experience the country’s world-renowned musical genre. He argued that the TEF should be used to establish such an attraction.

“Where [in Jamaica] can a tourist go to see a high-performance reggae show? In Cuba you have Tropicanna, in Mexico you have Coco Bongo in [that] you have the same kind of things where you have two to three shows per day,” he said.

“We developed a whole choreographed programme where we would train dancers. In fact, by then I had negotiated the purchase of the wharves from Hampden, and the theatre would have been in one of those wharves. We had everything down pat,” Thomas added.

Last month the $50-million Tourism Entertainment Academy (TEA), a ground-breaking initiative aimed at enhancing entertainment within the tourism sector, was launched at the Falmouth Artisan Village. The project was funded by TEF.

Tourism Minister Bartlett hailed the initiative as a pivotal moment for the provision of professional and authentic entertainment in the tourism industry.

Some of the attendees at the Region Six PNP Outreach Committees fund-raising cocktail party held at Grand-a-View Restaurant and Event Place in Montego Bay Thursday night. (Photos: Horace Hines)