ST JAMES, Jamaica — Newly appointed chairman of the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), Ryan Parkes is challenging educators to play a pivotal role in positioning tourism education as a stand alone industry. How well Jamaica trains its people, he said, will have a significant impact on the country’s future competitiveness in the global tourism market.

Parkes’s comments came as he addressed a Teachers’ Day luncheon hosted by St James East Central Member of Parliament Edmund Bartlett at the Montego Bay Convention Centre on Wednesday. The East Central St James Scholarship and Welfare Fund is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

During his time at the podium Parkes argued that in the aftermath of last October’s Hurricane Melissa, Jamaica’s tourism product is now at “an inflection point” and therefore rebuilding the sector requires more than restoring infrastructure. He stressed that it also needs a re-imagining of the country’s human capital.

“I want to challenge you, the teaching fraternity, to let us make education in tourism — and in a holistic way — a new industry by itself. The opportunities are endless,” he urged.

According to Parkes, tourism must now be viewed as a fully integrated industry tied directly to education, workforce development, and national growth. He noted that the sector remains Jamaica’s single-largest contributor to gross domestic product, accounting for approximately 30 per cent through both direct and indirect contributions.

“If the majority of your contribution is already coming from tourism there is the opportunity for us to harness that industry and to ensure that it is well-equipped to compete in the new dimension within which we operate,” he told the Jamaica Observer when asked to expound on his concept of tourism education as an industry.

“The teachers being that agent for skills and training, they will have to play a major role in helping to reshape the skill set of our people, and particularly our tourism workers,” Parkes added.

Pointing to the niche the Dominican Republic has carved out for itself as a destination with affordable all-inclusive resorts, Parkes said Jamaica’s selling point should be its people.

“It’s that warmth and behaviour we need training to achieve, and it starts with you being at the heart of this ecosystem,” he told educators.

“Because you are moulding young minds and you are preparing those minds for the world of work, there is no better constituent group than yourselves to be able to have that dialogue with and for us to work together in shaping the future of tourism,” he added.