ST JAMES, Jamaica — The Jamaica Centre for Tourism Innovation (JCTI), an arm of the Ministry of Tourism, is taking steps to prepare Jamaica’s tourism and hospitality sector for the growing integration of artificial intelligence (AI).

With Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett positing that the ministry’s new Tourism 3.0 growth agenda is about the inevitable role that AI now plays in the growth of the tourism industry, the JCTI recently hosted an all-day Hospitality & Tourism AI Workshop at the Montego Bay Convention Centre. The JCTI is a division of the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), a public body of the Ministry of Tourism.

In his keynote address, Bartlett said the workshop was structured “to look more closely at our role in building new ideas, new structures, new ways of enabling tourism to happen better and for its retentive capacity to be more accentuated. Because it is what is retained in the communities that enables the enrichment of that community and the empowerment of the people.”

The minister said, “This workshop is about how do we retain that wealth, and it is the human capacity that enables us to do that.”

Bartlett envisaged Jamaica building a professionalised, strong industry “where the relationship between technology and human intelligence are symbiotic, and where you manipulate the elements of AI to enhance your effectiveness and your value-added in the industry.”

Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett (right) is greeted by a robot offering snacks, on his arrival at the Montego Bay Convention Centre for the Jamaica Centre for Tourism Innovation (JCTI) Hospitality & Tourism AI Workshop recently. Looking on is Director of the JCTI, Carol Rose Brown. The workshop formed part of activities to mark Tourism Awareness Week 2026, which was observed from September 27 to October 3, under the theme “Digital Agenda and Artificial Intelligence to Redesign Tourism.”

He went on to stress the importance of certification allowing workers to attract better salaries. Bartlett argued that with 60 per cent of tourism workers worldwide being unskilled, it was determined that machine intelligence and digitisation could impact more people at that lower end of the employment spectrum.

With the need seen for retraining, he said virtual reality presented the opportunity of simultaneously training and certifying a very large number of individuals without creating disruptions.

He explained that having determined the need to reposition tourism workers in Jamaica in line with the technological development and digital transformation that was happening, the JCTI was established to recognise competence and offer certification in conjunction with a number of internationally recognised institutions.

Bartlett revealed that “to date, the JCTI has certified some 45,000 tourism workers and 15 executive sous chefs. In addition to having a certificate programme in hotel management and customer service in 32 high schools.”

The workshop was attended by a representative gathering of stakeholders involved in the training and development of tourism workers across the island.

Director of the JCTI, Carol Rose Brown, outlined that the workshop entailed three breakout sessions with activities built around what participants needed to understand about AI and innovation. The three included a session on marketing and how AI is changing the field globally.

She explained that another session explored how AI “is transforming how certification and training in hospitality and tourism is done” while the third examined how mobile technology is redefining travel experiences and the demands on businesses in the tourism sector.

The workshop formed part of activities to mark Tourism Awareness Week 2026, which was observed from September 27 to October 3, under the theme “Digital Agenda and Artificial Intelligence to Redesign Tourism”.