KINGSTON, Jamaica; May 17; 2018:   Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett says Jamaica’s Tourism Linkages Network received positive feedback during the 9th Asian Leadership Conference (ALC), being hosted at the Walkerhill Hotel, in South Korea.

The Minister noted that questions were posed by Asian delegates about work being done by the network.

“When I was invited to speak at the ALC, I knew there was particular interest in the many innovative initiatives we are doing locally to drive the economy through Tourism. They were particularly interested in the Linkages Network, and the targeted approach it is taking to improve the tourism product and the economy.

“The key goal of the network is to encourage buying local and thereby retaining foreign exchange spending. We are continuing our push to move from 30 cents on the dollar to 50cents,” said the Minister.

He further stated that “In Jamaica, we recognize that leakage is a major obstacle to sustainable tourism growth in Jamaica. It prevents money from flowing back into the local economy and benefiting the people of the country. The Linkages Network with its numerous ground-breaking initiatives was created to address this concern.”

The Minister also discussed the need to provide much needed assistance to Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises across the world.

“I presented the delegates with our concept paper entitled ‘The Global Mainstreaming of Small and Medium-Sized Tourism Enterprises’.  It encourages leaders to revisit our strategies for supporting the expansion and improvement of this critical sector of the tourism market. I am hoping this will help to change the perceptions of this key group,” said Minister Bartlett.

The Minister will also participate as a panellist at the United Nations World Tourism Organization/PATA Leaders Debate on Saturday, May 19 in Gangneung.

While there, he will share his insights on the current challenges being faced by the travel and tourism industry. He will also use the opportunity to discuss airlift issues and will speak on the Global Centre for Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management.

The Minister is accompanied by his Senior Advisor/Consultant, Dr Lloyd Waller, and his Executive Assistant, Anna-Kay Newell. The team is expected to return to the island on Monday, May 21.

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica; Wednesday, May 16, 2018: Acknowledged as the leader in tourism innovation in the Caribbean, Jamaica is now set to embark on the road to becoming a smart destination.

Speaking at the Smart Destination Workshop 2018 last Friday, Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett disclosed that the Ministry had invested J$30 million in the development of the fully integrated website that has been developed in conjunction with Google and will be launched in June.

“That’s the game-changer that we’ve been looking for to enable a platform in which all players can now come and populate with their content,” said Minister Bartlett.

He was particularly pleased that this would now allow for small vendors, classified as small and medium tourism enterprises, to have access. “The big word for us in smart tourism is access and Jamaica will provide access for visitors from all over the world,” said Minister Bartlett.

Minister Bartlett saw the coming together of public and private sector entities to demonstrate the use of technology in the forward thrust to grow tourism, as “a phenomenal development and it is putting Jamaica at the cutting edge of the new tourism.” He posited that “it is going to enable us to be sustainable in terms of our development process.”

He regarded the workshop as “being central in terms of creating and mapping out this new architecture for tourism” and advocated having this forum more often than once a year.

Mr. Bartlett underlined that “the change that is taking place in tourism today is absolutely mind boggling and destinations are undergoing a level of metamorphosis that is faster than even they can recognize themselves.” He said the change was coming because of “the fourth revolution” which he defined as “the huge influx of cognitive systems that are redefining the way things are done, adding value to innovation.”

Minister Bartlett issued a call “to wake up” and realize that tourism was now a brand new mega global industry with a value of US$8 trillion, representing ten percent of global GDP, second only to the financial services at 19 percent, and employing 400 million people last year. Tourism also accounted for 30 percent of trading services worldwide.

Darragh Fitzgerald Selby, Chairman of the Knowledge Network, one of the five pillars of the Ministry of Tourism’s Linkages Network, said Jamaica was being positioned to be seen as the knowledge centre of the Caribbean.

The stage for the Smart Destination workshop was set last year July when the Ministry of Tourism partnered with Digicel Business to introduce the concept of smart destination stakeholders, continued today with a workshop at the Montego Bay Convention Centre looking at implementation of the concept.

In addition to Digicel Business, Smart Destination 2018 is supported by technology giants AVAYA, ARUBA and TREND, as well as Exim Bank and the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association.

KINGSTON, Jamaica; Wednesday, May 16, 2018: Speaking at the 9th Asian Leadership Conference on Globalisation in Crisis: Navigating the World with New Opportunities in Seoul, South Korea, Min the Hon Edmund Bartlett called for the need for a 'Holistic Sustainable Tourism Roadmap for Asia'.

Recognising the growing and future potential of the region, especially with the potential unification of North and South Korea, the growing economies of Indonesia, India and China Minister Bartlett said that Asia will soon become one of the desired tourism destination for many and, a major source market for various other destinations. According to Bartlett, this will be "a game-changer, not only for the Asian region but for countries like Jamaica who will need to prepare for the influx of curious travellers from Asia".

Bartlett stated that the Asian region will need to work with existing stakeholders such as PATA and the UNWTO to enhance their existing products and services and, to develop new products and services in the region to attract the transitioning travellers. He further stated that there will be a need for travel authorities in the region to manage both inbound and outbound travel, while importantly protecting against harm to the environment and effectively safeguarding heritage spaces.

According to Mr. Bartlett, the recently developed Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Centre housed at the University of the West Indies will play an important role in the upcoming transition of the Asian region in terms of research, monitoring and evolution as well as training and capacity building and advice.

The Minister travels to Gangneung to participate in the PATA Annual Summit (PAS). He will participate as a panellist at the United Nations World Tourism Organization/PATA Leaders Debate on Saturday, May 19. High on the agenda are discussions regarding the implications of the North South Korean unification for travel and tourism in the region and further implications for the world.

Bartlett is accompanied by Dr Lloyd Waller, senior advisor/consultant and Anna-Kay Newell, Executive Assistant to the Minister. The team is expected to return to the island next Monday.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Tuesday, May 15, 2018: The Ministry of Tourism has restructured some of its key agencies to meet changing demands of the global tourism markets.

Outlining “a new architecture to meet tourism demands,” in his 2018 Sectoral presentation to Parliament recently, Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett said  the ministry recognized the importance of linkages and the more critical impact of the supply side of the industry.

Explaining the emerging new architecture in the industry, Minister Bartlett said tourism was becoming much like commodities, driven by price and demand, and in some instances price and value. He said new business models were emerging “that change the way in which we do business normally.”

Noting that there was a high level of integration, he said the Tourism Ministry recognized that putting in place the infrastructure required to meet the changing demands of tourists was required “to enable cost effectiveness and competitive pricing.”

Among the agencies that have undergone changes is the Jamaica Tourist Board which has been re-engineered and will change its methods of marketing and promoting of ‘Destination Jamaica’, to meet the needs of emerging tourism source markets globally.

Minister Bartlett said to compete in the new global marketplace, the JTB’s number one strategy would be development of a new, fully integrated website revolving on a single axis and providing non-stop global access to the destination. It will be integrated with Google and eventually linked into Airbnb’s platform with four million members.

The new website will host and promote all aspects of the destination and provide real time access and content to tour more than 50,000 travel agents globally allowing for more efficiency in selling Jamaica. “We will be able to perform, manage and incentivize them remotely to maximize our room and airline capacity,” and get more value from advertising and promotions, he noted.

Also changing focus after 14 years is the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF). In keeping with changes in global tourism, Mr. Bartlett said there was a need to reposition and diversify tourism products to make them more innovative and attractive to tourists. Consequently, as of April 1 this year, the TEF business model was restructured to focus on developing innovative projects and enabling iconic attractions across the island.

Since its inception, TEF has been focusing largely on projects and Minister Bartlett gave an assurance that it would continue its role of ensuring destination enhancement by building out the physical infrastructure.

However, going forward, TEF would be providing entrepreneurs, particularly those interested in small and medium tourism enterprises, with information to modify their business models as needed, to adapt to new trends in the industry and by extension keep their businesses afloat.

TEF is also being expanded to include new divisions such as the Tourism Linkages Network, the Jamaica Centre of Tourism Innovation (JCTI) and the Craft Development Institute.

A third major shift in the restructuring of the Tourism Ministry, has been the inclusion of cruise to the portfolio of Jamaica Vacations (JamVac) to create better relationships with cruise lines and include shore experience personnel.

Minister Bartlett said JamVac was now positioned to have greater monitoring of the shore experience to ensure early response to challenges while working with agencies such as the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ), Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) and local stakeholders to remedy any challenges. He reported that JamVac had been influential in ensuring that the perceived harassment at ports was minimized along with help of government and private stakeholders.