Meetings with Tourism Partners Bearing Fruit – Bartlett

Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says the series of meetings the Government has been having with strategic tourism partners in the cruise and stopover sectors have been bearing fruit.

He noted that based on the evidence, cruise shipping and stopover arrivals continue to show record numbers, putting the Ministry ahead of its quest to have five million visitors in a single calendar year by 2020.

Mr. Bartlett recently returned from a five-day trip to Nassau, Bahamas, where he attended an important meeting of the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s (CTO) Council of Tourism Ministers and Commissioners.

He told JIS News that the meeting was productive.

“There are a number of opportunities for collaborations and where we can come together as a regional force. “The Caribbean is a very unique destination on a whole with a lot of potential,” he noted.

He said the meeting also provided a platform for discussion about the upcoming United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development conference, and its overall benefit to the region.

Jamaica will be hosting the event from November 27-29 at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in Rose Hall, St. James.

The conference is a collaborative effort involving the Government of Jamaica, UNWTO and development firm Chemonics International.

An agreement for its staging was signed during the Tourism Minister’s visit to Spain earlier this year.

“There has never been a bigger tourism conference in this country than the one that is coming in November,” the Minister told JIS News.

“The lenses of the world will be upon us, giving us a unique opportunity to showcase brand Jamaica in all its glory,” he pointed out.

Turning to the plans to establish a school of hospitality, he said the institution will provide professional training in a variety of tourism-related disciplines.

“The students will be qualified to work anywhere in the world when they are finished with their studies,” he pointed out.

“We have to take the matter of accreditation very seriously. One of the highest paid jobs in the hotel sector is the position of executive chef. We want to ensure that we can train our students where they can, in fact, become executive chefs here or anywhere in the world. This is why an accredited institution like the proposed school of hospitality will be very important,” Minister said.