Minister Bartlett Underscores Tourism Strategy and Action Plan’s Importance

• Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, has emphasised the importance of Jamaica’s Tourism Strategy and Action Plan (TSAP) in generating the stakeholder capacity to respond to the industry’s new architecture.
• He was speaking during the opening session of the Tourism Strategy and Action Plan Consultation Workshop for Kingston and St. Andrew, at the Spanish Court Hotel in New Kingston on Thursday (April 4).
• The TSAP, being executed through a partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), is geared towards boosting socio-economic development and investment, building the local tourism industry’s resilience to climate change and reducing the sector’s contribution to climate change. It also aims to diversify Jamaica’s inbound tourism and promote the industry’s knowledge-based and technology-enabled development.
• Bartlett also highlighted the TSAP’s importance in making tourism more inclusive and more of an enabler of economic growth and development in Jamaica. He underscored the need to increase local production, which is critical in enabling Jamaica to retain a larger ratio of tourist dollars.
• Notably, with the tourism industry having already welcomed over 1 million visitors within the first two months of the year, it is progressing towards its ambitious goal of welcoming 5 million visitors and generating $5 billion in earnings by 2025.

(Sources: JIS and NCBCM Research)