OCHO RIOS, St Ann — Local event promoters in and around Ocho Rios who turned out for Wednesday’s staging of The Event Playbook series has lauded the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) for including them in the conversation on how to improve Jamaica’s tourism entertainment offerings.

Mytinia Samuels and his business partner Lacell Parnell were at the event sourcing information and insights on how to enhance their Christian entertainment company, Change In Me Production.

“My experience here today was one of empowerment. Being a part of the entertainment sector is important to me and being a part of the workshop today taught me a lot. I was able to network with a lot of people who would have otherwise be hard to get close to,” Samuels told the Jamaica Observer.

“I’ve learnt so much and I didn’t know that an event like this exist for people like us,” Parnell added.

The Ocho Rios stop was one in a series of TEF workshops aimed at empowering dedicated event promoters with the tools and knowledge needed to execute events that meet international standards while promoting Brand Jamaica. The focus is on community-level organisers with St Ann being the third parish to host the event.

“Having that awesome value and gem here in Jamaica and then having 4.3 million visitors coming to Jamaica each year makes huge sense for us to ensure that bridge between the supply of such outstanding entertainment value and tourism is a solid one,” TEF Executive Director Dr Carey Wallace said during his speech at the event held at Couples Sans Souci.

“I look at tourism as a skyscraper in terms of an industry and I look at Jamaica’s entertainment as a skyscraper of an industry and the linkages network has the responsibility of ensuring that we make a bridge between those two skyscrapers to ensure that we are creating wealth across Jamaica,” he added.

The event, which ran from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, saw the participation of representatives of Jamaica Tourist Board, St Ann Municipal Corporation; Jamaica Constabulary Force; North East Regional Health Authority; Jamaica Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers; Jamaica Music Society; and major spirit brand sponsors.

Event promoters were given a chance to interact with the entities through a panel discussion and this was the highlight of the event for actress and founder of Lady Phylea Productions Phylea Carley.

Along with her team she has performed, at an Ocho Rios hotel, a play she wrote: They Call Me Mama’

“We get to ask these people who are actually in the positions at various entities to help us and not us having to call all these places and sometimes given the runaround,” Carley told the Observer.

“This kind of event is not usually open and accessible to everyone so that people get a chance to attend. It educates them and changes their scope and perspective on how they do events. All those things are necessary for young promoters, especially those who want to get into the scene. These events are very important for the future,” Carley added.