Workers To Begin Receiving Benefits Under Tourism Pension Scheme In Three Years

The first cohort of tourism workers will begin receiving benefits under the Tourism Workers Pension Scheme, within the next three years.

Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett made the disclosure during a Ministerial Interview with the Jamaica information Service (JIS) on September 17, at the Ministry’s New Kingston offices.

“The actuaries are working on what those numbers are going to be in terms of… the first cohort of beneficiaries…, and then how you would accrete over time. But what I can say is that this particular development is not just a social security safety net for the workers of the industry but it is also a capital formation that will enable significant investments for domestic growth and development of the economy,” he said.

Mr. Bartlett noted that the pension fund will be the largest pool of affordable funds in Jamaica and possibly the Caribbean.

He said the target is to accumulate $100 billion in the fund in the next 10 years.

Currently, the fund has accumulated approximately $6 billion in savings, with approximately 11,000 workers registered in the scheme, representing under 10 percent of workers in the sector.

“It’s the only pension scheme of this type in the world that embraces all categories of workers in the industry…hotel workers, attractions, craft vendors, taxi drivers, rafters on the Rio Grande and other places [as well as] red cap workers at the airport. We’re also embracing the courtesy corps and the security corps that operate at the two airports and at the shipping ports where cruise is an important part, for example, Falmouth, Ocho Rios and Montego Bay,” Mr. Bartlett said.

He said the pension scheme also includes private small entrepreneurs in the tourism sector.

“Anyone whose livelihood is 30 per cent or more dependent on tourism, qualifies to be a member,” he said, while encouraging other stakeholders to join the programme.

Meanwhile, the Minister said plans are afoot to develop a programme of health security for workers in the sector.

“We’re in the process of working through a programme of health security for the workers. Our actuaries who have worked with us on the pension programme are looking at how we can integrate the health area with the pension programme. As the insurance funds accrete, we could develop a health component,” he said.