Effort under way to open domestic supply routes to hotels

Edmund Bartlett, minister of tourism, said Tuesday that soon local suppliers to the hotel sector will be better placed to trade with the grouping as the ministry would be conducting a survey on the goods and services in demand by properties.

The impact assessment, to be finalised by yearend, is meant to support a broader initiative to double retention of earnings from each tourism dollar spent, from the current 25 cents to 50 cents.

The minister said so far this year the industry has earned US$1.66 million, representing an increase of 1.1 per cent over the same period in 2010.

Producers along the value chain who wished to provide for hotels frequently claimed that information was missing, he told directors of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce at a luncheon meeting of the board Tuesday.

"What we must do is give Jamaica an empirical base upon which they can respond to the demands of tourism. We have set up a team to prepare a tourism impact assessment so we are able, within a short time, to provide this information,' Bartlett said.

"The draft will be ready by the end of November. By yearend we will be in a position to say to farmers, this is the demand needed for 30,000 rooms, which they can then take to the bank and say, there is a demand, give us capital."

Room count is actually shy of 21,000 (see story on Page 7).

The minister said he accepts that the tourism retention was "undesirably low" at 25 cents.

"It is 25 cents lower than it should be. The first 50 cents of the dollar should be used to buy goods and services to bring visitors here. The way in which this will be done is if we develop the goods and services which are needed," he said.

Bartlett said that a wide range of products, including vegetables and millions of eggs, were needed.

"If our farmers were able to produce this, then we would be able to add another 10 to the 25 cent which is currently retained. There are also hotels to be built, and the materials used to construct them. Doing that locally would provide another 10 cents," said the minister. "We must deliver on the demand requirements. However, we lack information. Even in the national accounts, tourism is lumped under miscellaneous clubs and restaurants," he said.

Bartlett noted that prospects for the coming winter season, which kicks off December 15, is positive, saying that 1,044,137 airlift seats have been secured.

He said Jamaica is expected to score foreign exchange earnings of US$800 million over the four-month season.

business@gleanerjm.com