Students Participate in World Tourism Day Forum

Tourism Action Club (TAC) members from several educational institutions across the island were engaged in a forum on Thursday (September 27) designed to foster dialogue with industry players on tourism and digital transformation.

The forum, in celebration of World Tourism Day, was held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in Rose Hall, St. James.

Participating institutions included Montego Bay High, Herbert Morrison Technical High, and Anchovy High, St. James; Manchester High; St. Jago High, St. Catherine; Westwood High and Holland High, Trelawny; Belmont Academy, Westmoreland; the HEART Leap Centre and Dunoon Park Technical High, Kingston; and Calabar High and the University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Andrew.

The students were engaged in several activities including a quiz competition via Whatsapp, a digital marketing contest and a video competition highlighting destination Jamaica.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Jennifer Griffith, who brought greetings, encouraged the students to aim to become industry leaders.

She told them that tourism offers numerous opportunities to pursue exciting and fulfilling career paths.

“We are going to be looking out for you as you pass through high school into tertiary education and into your desired area of tourism. It is an exciting field to work in. There are so many things you can do in tourism, it is amazing…the career path can vary and can meet your every expectation,” she told them.

The session included a panel discussion on the theme: ‘Tourism and the Digital Transformation’ with panelists giving insight on how they utilise technology in their area of focus in the tourism sector.

Among the panelists was 2018 Junior Tourism Minister and student of Westwood High, Bryanna Hylton, who underscored the importance of technology and social media and urged students to play their part by using their smart devices to help promote brand Jamaica.

“We can use these devices to build our tourism economy. We can use these devices to bring more tourists into our country, and in the end, bring more foreign exchange into our country, and more jobs for our parents,” she noted.

The TAC is an initiative of the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) and serves as a medium through which students at the secondary and tertiary levels can learn more about tourism in a fun, less structured way. It also provides opportunities to share their views on issues arising in the tourist industry.