Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says the local industry is on track to become Jamaica’s fastest growing economic engagement. This, he said, is based on the sector’s significant inflows to the gross domestic product (GDP), and on the fact that its contribution, in the last two and a half years in particular, “has grown faster than every industry in the...

The Government is in discussion with the University of the West Indies (UWI) regarding potential training options that can be explored and initiated to further boost the competence of tourism workers. Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, who is leading the discussions on behalf of the Government, said it is anticipated that the outcome of the talks “will take us into...

Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says work on the proposed Tourism Workers’ Pension Scheme is expected to be completed shortly. “We are hopeful that [by] the end of this week, we will have sign-off by the Attorney General, so that we can be in a position to go to Cabinet with the draft legislation and, hopefully, I can table it…...

Chief Communications Strategist and Advisor in the Ministry of Tourism, Delano Seiveright, says ongoing development of the Ian Fleming International Airport in Boscobel, St. Mary, will greatly enhance the tourism fortunes for the parish and neighbouring St. Ann. He told JIS News that the airport, formerly known as the Boscobel Aerodrome, will ensure easier access to hotels, villas and guest...

Tourism Minister Hon. Edmund Bartlett says Jamaica has welcomed one million visitors to its shores in the first nine weeks of 2019. He said this has provided foreign exchange earnings of approximately US$800 million. “The industry is now at the peak of its growth, and the beauty about us in tourism is that we make new peaks… because we are...

The Government is projecting gross earnings of US$3.6 billion from the tourism industry for the 2019/20 fiscal year. Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, told the Standing Finance Committee of the House on March 4, that the country is expected to have some 4.584 million visitors for the financial year, with stopover arrivals at 2.875 million and cruise arrivals of...

The second annual Blue Mountain Coffee Festival kicked off on Friday (March 1), with a trade development workshop for farmers, processors and retailers at the University of Technology (UTech) campus in Papine, St. Andrew. The session featured several seminars and networking sessions facilitated by representatives from the Tourism Linkages Network (TLN), Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority (JACRA), Newport- Fersan Jamaica Limited, among...

More than 140 high-school students from western Jamaica were exposed to the importance and impact of local tourism during the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) ‘Tourism Youth Expo and Career Fair 2019’. The event was held at the Negril Hills Golf Club in Westmoreland on Tuesday, February 26, and falls in line with the Ministry of Tourism’s fifth pillar of...

Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, is projecting that the tourism sector will provide 41,000 new jobs by 2022. In his speech, delivered by Regional Manager of the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), Odette Dyer, at the Hyatt Hotels’ Eminence Staff Awards at the Hyatt Ziva/Zilara Rose Hall Resorts in St. James on February 19, Mr. Bartlett said with the continued unprecedented...