Tourism Entities And Suppliers For Speed Networking Event March 31

More than 50 entities in the tourism sector and 95 suppliers have already registered to participate in this year’s Speed Networking event, scheduled to take place on Thursday (March 31) at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St. James, beginning at 9:00 a.m.

Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, is expected to deliver the main address at the opening ceremony.

The event is hosted annually by the Tourism Linkages Network (TLN), in collaboration with the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA), Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO), Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) and the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC).

Director, TLN, Carolyn McDonald-Riley, told JIS News that it is a “business-to-business opportunity where local suppliers meet with our tourism players with a view to supplying them with our tourism products”.

The event will feature a series of 15-minute pre-scheduled meeting appointments between Managing Directors/General Managers/Chief Executive Officers of local supplier companies of products/services and Owners/Managers of properties, restaurants, attractions and other tourism entities throughout the course of the day.

Mrs. McDonald-Riley informed that a new element of this year’s staging is the provision of information by a number of key stakeholders.

She indicated that there will be a Tourism Workers Pension desk, “where persons will be allowed to come and ask for information and also to sign up if they so require”.

“We will also have our tourism incentive person from the Ministry [of Tourism] who will be giving information on incentives… and we will also be having the banks. We will have DBJ [Development Bank of Jamaica] and EXIM Bank [National Export Import Bank of Jamaica] on hand and these are entities that we consider our linkage partners who lend money specifically to the tourism industry at low rates,” Mrs. McDonald-Riley added.

The Speed Networking initiative has, over the years, benefited several small and medium-sized tourism enterprises, providing exposure for their businesses and opportunities for contracts.