MONTEGO BAY, St James — Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett has stoutly defended the evolving role of the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), stating that while the agency continues to finance infrastructural developments in resort towns, its focus has now expanded to include development of human capital.

In his view, investing in people who power the industry is equally vital to sustaining growth.

“Those who are there harping and saying you should be this and you should be that and not recognising what you are doing to really enhancing true inclusivity in tourism [are] missing the point.

But it is the season for it. And I understand, and if you notice, I have not even responded, because some are very senior people of another era, of course, and who, no doubt, want to glory in that. And for them, I say, happy hunting. But for us, it’s a new direction.

It’s a new era, and the TEF has a new mission, and you’ve been carrying through that mission,” Bartlett said while delivering the keynote address at TEF’s second annual stakeholder seminar at the Montego Bay Convention Centre last Friday.

While the minister did not identify critics by name, while speaking at a People’s National Party (PNP) Region Six Outreach Committee fund-raising on May 3, former managing director of the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) Kingsley Thomas called for TEF to return to its roots. Thomas was among those inside then Prime Minister PJ Patterson’s inner circle and wielded considerable power during the PNP Administration of 1992-2006.

“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,” Thomas said during the fund-raiser in Montego Bay.

In response, Bartlett pointed to gains made using TEF’s “new direction”.

He pointed to certification of tourism workers through the Jamaica Centre for Tourism Innovation (JCTI), a division of TEF, as part of a thrust to change the perception that the tourism industry only offers low-paying jobs.

“What we’re doing and what TEF is doing is to change the labour market arrangements in tourism. Because it is felt by some that we are a low value-added industry, and that our workers are low-paid, and that it is true that our job descriptions are essentially casual and we are seasonal. We’re changing all of that!” the tourism minister said.

“There is no other period in all history where more of the tourism dollar has actually flowed through the economy and impacted more people than at this time. And I’m very proud of the work,” Bartlett added.

He also noted that nearly 30,000 tourism workers have been certified in the five years since JCTI was established.

“A good cook remains a good cook for life, even though he’s better than the sous chef, which they bring from elsewhere. We say no to that! And this is what JCTI is doing,” Bartlett said, adding that TEF has also funded the newly established Entertainment Academy.

“The second academy, which we will launch in another few days, is the Gastronomy Academy,” the minister boasted.

He also pointed out that TEF has provided about $500 million to provide social housing for tourism workers, in addition to $1 billion to rehabilitate 250 acres “with 535 families who were in informal settlement that now are enjoying the benefit of a civilised, upscale looking community, which is called Grange Pen”, in St James.

Bartlett highlighted other key contributions to human capacity building, including the injection of $1 billion into the Exim Bank to support small and medium tourism enterprises (SMTEs), and establishing of the Tourism Innovation Incubator. The incubator aims to mine and refine new ideas, assign value to them, and support their development into value-added contributions to the sector.