More Jamaicans are generating earnings from local tourism-related activities, in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Portfolio Minister, Edmund Bartlett, says notable among the out-turns is US$100 million earned by the operators of Airbnb accommodations, which housed approximately 29 per cent of tourists visiting Jamaica last year.
“Airbnb is providing accommodation all across the country, including some… communities that you normally wouldn’t think that tourism would touch,” the minister noted.
Bartlett further informed that approximately $300 million was realised via the Agri-Linkages Exchange (ALEX) platform.
The online facility is a joint initiative between the ministry, through the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) and the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), which brings hoteliers into direct contact with farmers supplying establishments with fresh produce.
ALEX, which is the first platform of its kind established in Jamaica, serves to reduce losses while helping Jamaica retain more of the derivable economic benefits of tourism.
“These are farmers with one acre to five acres. That’s different from the large farmers who are already producing and supplying the hotels,” Bartlett further indicated.
He provided the update during Wednesday’s (April 19) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House in St Andrew.
Bartlett said a feature of the industry’s recovery from COVID-19 has been the level of local supplies now being channelled into the tourism industry.
He highlighted the small and medium-sized enterprises that have been supplying provisions being sought by hotels, among other stakeholder establishments.
“Now you are seeing a lot more Jamaican nutraceuticals finding their way into our hotels, and all of that means more retention of the dollar here because, instead of importing those things, we are now… able to provide them,” he said.
“That is what we really wanted when we started talking about building tourism and enabling growth on the five pillars that I had established of gastronomy, shopping, health and wellness tourism, culture and arts, and music and entertainment,” the minister added.
Bartlett said focus was placed on increasing the revenue-retention level from 30 cents to 40 cents, prior to the onset of COVID-19.
“We did, [and] we had Jamaica earning 40 cents from the dollar at the turn of 2020. Then, of course, came COVID, so everything went to zero. Well, the good news is that what has happened since then is that now we have realised that more local goods are finding their way into the hotels,” he said.
The minister pointed out that “all of these new developments have been bringing more and more Jamaicans into the earning stream of tourism”.
Bartlett said when these are coupled with the over US$50 billion in direct tax earnings that went into the consolidated fund, they represent significant contributions to Jamaica’s economy that had never been previously recorded.
