Archives for June 2021

Jamaica and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have initiated discussions aimed at facilitating cooperation and investment in tourism and other key areas, following a series of meetings between Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett; his colleague Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator the Hon. Aubyn Hill; and Minister of Tourism for Saudi Arabia, His Excellency Ahmed Al Khateeb, during his visit to Jamaica last week. 

The visit ended on Friday, June 25, with a tour of the Ueshima Coffee Company owned Craighton Estate, in Irish Town, followed by a farewell luncheon for Minister Al Khateeb and his delegation. 

“During His Excellency’s visit, we looked at resilience and sustainability issues as critical pillars on which the recovery of tourism can be predicated. But more so, how to build capacity among the people who offer better services and offer better experiences. More importantly, to be able to retain the earnings from tourism in our local space. We also discussed the issues related to investments in tourism in particular and also broader investment opportunities,” said Minister Bartlett. 

Minister Al Khateeb highlighted that he is interested in a number of investment opportunities and will continue discussions with Jamaica in the months to come. 

“There is a great amount of opportunities and areas to cooperate between Saudi Arabia (one of the G20 countries) and the great Jamaica. This is just a start. We are seeing a smooth and strong recovery in the tourism industry, and we want both Saudi Arabia and Jamaica to be ahead of the recovery and to lead this recovery,” said Minister Al Khateeb.

“Minister Hill discussed a few opportunities, whether government to government or government to private sector, and we will continue the discussion. There are a lot of great opportunities here and we are assessing these opportunities. But, it looks very appealing, and we will continue these discussions in the coming few months in a few areas – Tourism, Logistics, and many other ideas,” Minister Al Khateeb added. 

Other areas of collaboration discussed included: air connectivity, improving community tourism to benefit Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises and resilience building. An MOU is now being structured to bring into effect the areas of agreement that were outlined during the discussions.

Minister Hill said that a number of high-level investment opportunities discussed will be brought to the Prime Minister’s attention for further consideration. 

He however, outlined that “investments of this size that Saudi Arabia will bring to a country like ours is huge but will also encompass the rest of the Caribbean.”

“We want Jamaica to be that place where that beach head would be and we have discussed at great length the special economic zone authority where we are building a campus where people can come here, set up their business, bring in their goods, re-package them, process them and re-export them. We want Jamaica to be that place…We are also going to continue the discussions down the line about logistics for oil services and investments in the hotel industry,” said Minister Hill. 

Minister Al Khateeb was in Jamaica primarily to participate in the 66th meeting of the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) Regional Commission for the Americas (CAM) and the Ministerial Dialogue on: ‘Reactivation of the tourism sector for inclusive growth,’ which took place on Thursday June 24, 2021, at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.  

The Caribbean was also strongly represented by the Minister of Tourism and International Transport for Barbados, Senator, the Hon. Lisa Cummins, who also travelled to Jamaica to attend the CAM meeting, which was chaired by Minister Bartlett. Senator Cummins also chairs the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO).

More news about Jamaica

MEDIA CONTACT:

Corporate Communications Division

Ministry of Tourism

64 Knutsford Boulevard

Kingston 5

Telephone: 920-4924,

Fax: 906-019

Or

Kingsley Roberts

Senior Director, Corporate Communications

Ministry of Tourism

64 Knutsford Boulevard

Kingston 5

Tel: 920-4926-30, ext.: 5990

Cell: (876) 505-6118

Fax: 920-4944

Jamaica Tourism Minister Hon. Edmund Bartlett has announced that the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Jamaica National Small Business Loans Ltd (JNSBL) to make $70 million accessible to operators in the tourism ground transportation sub-sector, who have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Minister Bartlett made the announcement as he provided an update on the recovery of the tourism sector in Parliament yesterday (June 29).

“I am happy to announce that we have finalized plans for our latest relief initiative for tourism workers. The Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) has put in motion an injection of J$70 million to support tourism ground transportation operators who have suffered tremendously from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic and the massive downturn in tourism over the last year,” Minister Bartlett expressed.

“The loans, become accessible at any JN Branch starting July 1, 2021, and will be offered at zero percent interest rate; with an 8-month moratorium on the principal and a maximum repayment period of three years, with no processing fees,” Minister Bartlett said. 

The loan facility was first announced by Minister Bartlett during his Sectoral Debate closing presentation in Parliament on June 15. During his presentation, Mr. Bartlett described the TEF intervention as “The Default Clearance Loan.” 

He explained that it can be accessed from JNSBL and will allow borrowers to receive up to a maximum of J$1 million in monthly instalments for up to 12 months. 

Minister Bartlett had also outlined that: “It was agreed that the loans will be unsecured, as the challenges surrounding collateralizing the loans will prevent some operators from accessing the facility, especially those who are in the greatest need of this form of aid to remain sustainable.” 

In collaboration with JNSBL, the application process has been made easy, and to facilitate even more applicants, the TEF has secured the services of certified accountants to assist the applicants in preparing the Cash Flow Statements that are required as part of the application.

Minister Bartlett outlined that the accountants have facilitated over 40 drivers since Saturday, June 26th, 2021, with others currently being assisted.  

The introduction of the loan facility follows appeals by members of the transportation sub-sector for assistance. 

In a recent virtual forum hosted by the Tourism Linkages Network (TLN), on how tourism has impacted other sectors, President of the Jamaica Co-operative Automobile and Limousine Tours (JCAL), Brian Thelwell, underscored the importance of ground transportation to tourism and called for financial support for operators to prepare them for the recovery of the industry. He implored banks in particular, to be more lenient with those having outstanding loans.

“The COVID-19 Relief loan facility will be available to members of JUTA, JCAL and MAXI ground transportation providers who must meet a number of eligibility criteria,” Mr. Bartlett said.

More than 5,000 transport operators in the tourism sector have been impacted negatively by the forced lockdown of the tourism sector last year, due to the pandemic.

More news about Jamaica

MEDIA CONTACT:

Corporate Communications Division

Ministry of Tourism 

64 Knutsford Boulevard

Kingston 5

Telephone: 920-4924, 

Fax: 906-1729

Or

Kingsley Roberts

Senior Director, Corporate Communications

Ministry of Tourism

64 Knutsford Boulevard

Kingston 5

Tel: 920-4926-30, ext.: 5990

Cell: (876) 505-6118

Fax: 920-4944

Stepping into her new role as Seychelles Principal Secretary for Tourism, Mrs. Sherin Francis met with local press partners at Botanical House on Wednesday, June 30, to present the department’s priorities for the tourism industry and to discuss the changes in the department and its functioning.

Mrs. Francis stated the changes happening within the tourism industry do not affect the Seychelles brand but that for commercial reasons, the department will be referred to as Tourism Seychelles.

Presenting the most pertinent changes, the Principal Secretary noted that aside from her secretariat, which would be responsible for PR and Communications and International Cooperation, the Tourism department would consist of three main divisions.

She explained that the two main divisions of the department, which include the Destination Marketing Division and Destination Planning and Development Division, would complement one another in their respective tasks.

Giving an insight of priorities the new department would be focusing on, Mrs. Francis stated that all plans are being made considering the difficult period the industry is facing. In line with the restructuring, the priority is to look for areas where the department could rationalize resources effectively and ensure efficiency across of all its operations in line with the industry’s regulatory framework.

The focus of the new administration will be to enhance customer satisfaction by refining its support to the industry through training and other programs to help improve service standards.

Another area of attention will be addressing the gaps in existing tourism policies or strategies. A review of the tourism policies for various services in the sector will be conducted, PS Francis said, to ensure all strategies serve current requirements, especially in view of the pandemic and new tourism developing trends. According to Mrs. Francis, this is important to facilitate diversification of our product offerings.

In view of the department’s commitment to enhance the customer experience, the PS for Tourism stated that the department will undertake an inventory of the facilities and services provided to tourists in Seychelles especially in terms of attractions, sites, and experiences. This exercise will be conducted in collaboration with various stakeholders and would ascertain the availability and quality of the tourist facilities and services. This would allow us to know where there are gaps so as for us to improve the quality of our tourism products which in turn would allow us to broaden the scope of destination marketing, visitor experience and revenue generation. This would also help us identify potential areas for growth of Service offered to visitors and help us better channel investment into the industry.

Presenting a critical area of concern, Mrs. Francis advised that an assessment will be undertaken to understand the key human resources issues facing the tourism sector in Seychelles. The department will be working in close collaboration with relevant ministry to identify the cause of the high staff turnover and low productivity with a view to formulate corrective measures.

The department will continue its efforts on continuous brand awareness, digital engagement and strengthening Seychelles’ presence on social media, PS Francis advised, while confirming that particular attention will be paid to market intelligence, statistics and data driven insights.

In closing PS Francis stated that to truly realize the plans there are several essential areas of partnership to be maintained and supported ranging from private to public sector. Ongoing cooperation and dialogue with other government bodies from regulatory to policy making is essential, to ensure that all ancillary functions or services to move forward the industry are aligned.

More news about Seychelles

#rebuildingtravel

MEDIA CONTACT: Tourism Seychelles, [email protected] 

Grand Bahama Island, known for its award-winning beaches, spectacular dives and amazing sea life, has just added the first ever Dive Grand Bahama Event, which is slated for July 19-23, 2021, in Freeport, Grand Bahama. 

The thrilling five-day event is organized by the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism & Aviation (BMOTA) in conjunction with Pelican Bay Resort, UNEXSO and Bahamasair and will feature Bahamas Dive Ambassadors, open water certified divers, and local divers. 

Divers joining in on the Dive Grand Bahama Event can expect to experience customized and certified two-tank open water dives around Grand Bahama’s famous dive sites including shallow and wall wrecks, reefs, and dolphin and Caribbean reef shark encounters.  In addition to the many dives, participants will also experience a welcome reception, city tour and dive seminar.

According to Aram Bethel, Dive Executive at BMOTA: “Grand Bahama, year after year, receives the award for ‘Best Dive Destination for Big Animal Encounters,’ by Scuba Divers Readers’ Choice.  No other destination offers the dive diversity and plethora of activities that Grand Bahama has, from its amazing blue holes and world’s largest underwater cave systems to its thrilling large Tiger, Hammerhead and Lemonhead shark encounters.”

“Based on the pent-up demand and interests our verticals team (Donna Ash and Deckery Johnson) received from travelers, and divers in particular, all of whom are ready to getaway, recharge and experience nature again, we made a decision to conduct this very special event.  Not only does it showcase our beautiful dive product and destination, but it also generates additional revenue for the island,” Bethel said.

“Due to limited availability of hotel accommodations at Pelican Bay, staffing at UNEXSO as well as discounted airline seats on Bahamasair (promotional code: 00MXD951), only the first 40 divers will be able to participate in this program,” Bethel pointed out.

ABOUT THE BAHAMAS

With over 700 islands and cays and 16 unique island destinations, The Bahamas lies just 50 miles off the coast of Florida, offering an easy flyaway escape that transports travelers away from their everyday. The Islands of The Bahamas have world-class fishing, diving, boating, birding, and nature-based activities, thousands of miles of the earth’s most spectacular water and pristine beaches waiting for families, couples and adventurers. Explore all the islands have to offer at www.bahamas.com or on Facebook, YouTube or Instagram to see why It’s Better in The Bahamas.

More news about The Bahamas

MEDIA CONTACT:

Earnestine Moxyz

[email protected]

Ph:  954-236-9292