ST ANN, Jamaica — The country’s Tourism Workers’ Pension Scheme is attracting international attention, with UN Tourism officials describing the country’s comprehensive worker pension model as “emulable” and saying it should be brought into the mainstream of tourism activity worldwide.

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, speaking virtually from Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, said the recognition came during meetings he held with UN Tourism officials as he continues his tour of the Middle Eastern country.

Bartlett made the disclosure during the Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX) media breakfast at Moon Palace Jamaica in Ocho Rios, describing the development as “a very exciting moment” and the pension scheme as a “revolutionary activity”.

He said the UN Tourism officials specifically pointed to Jamaica’s approach to providing social protection for tourism workers as one that other destinations could emulate.

The recognition comes as the scheme records more than $6 billion in savings from over 10,800 registered workers.

Bartlett said the pension programme was created to address the lack of financial security facing many tourism workers after years of service to the industry.

“Tourism workers needed this social safety net because they work, they slave, they give off their lives, and at the end of the day, they end up in funerary in a lot of instances,” he said.

“We had to change that picture, and this programme and this policy will change that whole scenario,” he added.

The Tourism Workers’ Pension Scheme became effective on January 31, 2020, and is expected to ultimately benefit about 350,000 employees across the tourism sector.

It covers workers aged 18 to 59, whether permanent, contract or self-employed, including hotel employees and people working in related areas such as craft vending, tour operations, red-cap portering, contract carriage and attractions.

Benefits are payable at age 65 or older.

Bartlett said the comments from UN Tourism were particularly significant given that the pension scheme was conceived as a Jamaican response to the need for stronger social protection within the tourism industry.

— Horace Hines