Restructuring of Jamaican tourism ministry almost complete
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
KINGSTON, Jamaica: State Minister in the
Jamaican Ministry of Industry and Tourism, Dr. Wykeham McNeill, has announced
that the restructuring of the Ministry and the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) is
almost complete and that the anticipated annual savings from this activity was
approximately US$2.5 million. He was
responding to questions posed by Opposition Members of Parliament during last
Wednesday’s sitting of the Standing Finance Committee.
Dr. McNeil explained that the increase in the allocation to overseas offices
was due to the shift in the exchange rate and that the Ministry would do
everything possible to meet the targets that had been set.
He said that despite the fact that there was
a decline in the European market, significant marketing had been done in the
continent and this was still being manifested in the arrivals. Dr. McNeill
assured that the JTB would be exploring avenues to further re-engage the
European market. According to the Minister,
last year, some $3 million was spent on attracting tourists from that region,
perhaps the highest amount ever spent on that market.
He noted that the ‘Undiscovered Jamaica’ programme which was established last
year had been very successful to date, focusing on those parts of Jamaica
outside of the usual tourist attractions, and smaller properties. To this end,
the JTB and the Ministry was working closely with the Association of Villas
and Apartments to increase their share of the market, he said.
Dr. McNeill indicated that areas such as Falmouth would be taken into
consideration for heritage tourism and that the country would also be marketed
from a community base, involving areas such as Maroon Town, “so that people
who come here can see the diversity of our culture, our entertainment and all
that we have to offer”. Where craft trading
was concerned, Dr. McNeill said the JTB was looking at a model to develop that
side of the industry in important areas such as infrastructure and product
diversity. The Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo), and the Jamaica
Business Development Centre (JBDC) were putting together a plan to address
some of these issues and a pilot plan was to be put in place, he informed.
Dr. McNeill further informed that the Port
Antonio craft market was 85 per cent complete and that negotiations were in
progress for the completion of the market.
Tourism and Industry Minister, Aloun
Ndombet-Assamba recently described the sector as the new growth engine for the
economy. “Today it is no longer sugar or bauxite or banana which is our main
earner of foreign exchange, it is tourism. The industry has moved from being a
peripheral enterprise to a powerful sector holding centre stage in our country
as it does in many other countries,” the Minister pointed out.
She also said it was in the interest of Jamaicans, that the Master Plan for
sustainable tourism was developed through much consultations and meetings with
tourism representatives, community groups and organizations. “The tourism
master plan therefore represents the best ideas of all our people for the way
forward for the tourism industry,” Mrs. Assamba noted.
The plan, which was recently approved by Cabinet, will be implemented through
a collaborative approach that will involve the public and private sectors,
civil society and communities. The main recommendations of the plan cover five
key objectives - growth based on a sustainable market position, enhancement of
the visitor experience, community based development, the building of an
inclusive industry, and environmental sustainability
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