Minister Bartlett Touts Potential of Coffee Tourism

Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, is touting the potential of Jamaica’s coffee in boosting visitor arrivals to the island.

Mr. Bartlett, who was speaking at the sixth annual Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival in Newcastle, St. Andrew, on Saturday (March 25), noted that the product could be a main attraction for tourists who are interested in experiential travel.

“For us in Jamaica to be able to attract a varied demography, all types of people from all over the world, we have to increase the offerings of experience… and a key area that we can maximise this experiential tourism is coffee,” he said.

He noted that coffee has the capacity to be utilised in many areas and “we want to tap into this very large and elongated coffee chain”.

The Minister said there is potential to build a coffee innovation town “right here in the hills of St. Andrew and possibly Buff Bay on the other side of the hill”, where the various attributes of coffee can be utilised to bring “economic well-being to people and to bring pleasure and joy and satisfaction”.

For his part, Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Senator the Hon. Aubyn Hill, hailed festival organisers for an “amazingly impressive” sixth annual staging of the Jamacia Blue Mountain Coffee Festival.

Stating that he continues to push for investment in the sector, Senator Hill said: “Agriculture is alive and well; agricultural investment is alive and well. We have something very special here in Jamaica that we must continue to build.”