TEF funds to flow in December
Published:Sunday | November 27, 2011 | 12:00 AM
The additional revenue from airport fees should start flowing to the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) by December.
The TEF, whose resources were last estimated at J$2 billion, will be tapped as a source of financing for small businesses within the travel sector and backing a network of shopping villages targeted at tourists.
Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett told directors of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce last week that the amendment of the Tourism Enhancement Act of 2004, which facilitated a doubling of fees paid by airline passengers from US$10 to US$20, took effect on October 1.
However, the two-month implementation cycle means that the additional revenue would start flowing to TEF in December, according to tourism ministry technocrats.
The controversial fee amendment — protested by some sectoral interests as likely to negatively affect the tourism market — now permits application of the fee to one-way tickets, online tickets and travel vouchers "issued or made available to a traveller by airlines or any designated agent for the purpose of travel".
"This adjustment will facilitate the TEF performing at its optimum, that is, as the financial fuel behind the sustainable enhancement of the tourism product," said Bartlett.
"The TEF funding ultimately allows for critical investments into the tourism industry to shore up vital factors such as infrastructure and product; factors that attract potential investors," he said.
'Five by Five' loans
Earlier this year, the TEF launched a J$100-million loan programme called 'Five by Five', targeting small suppliers of goods and services to the tourism trade at single-digit interest rates. The programme, contracted to JN Small Business Loans for administration, offers loans of up to J$5 million for five years at five per cent interest.
The TEF has also been identified as the main funding source for a network of shopping and cultural centres or artisan villages, to be developed in five resort towns. The first is to be developed in Ocho Rios.
Bartlett said last week that another was in advanced planning for Falmouth. The architectural drawings will be ready for submission in December, he said.
"We are currently collaborating with the Port Authority of Jamaica to establish this new attraction at the port of Falmouth. The artisan village, to be established at the port, is to be located in the space now called the Foundry site at the Dome. This was the location of the Phoenix Foundry, established in the early 19th century and a beehive of activity in the town," the tourism minister said as he addressed the chamber directors.
"The intention is to recreate the period activities that would have taken place at this foundry site, while enhancing these with the added interest of actual artisans at work. Visitors will be transported back in time, experiencing the foundry in operation, seeing the blacksmith and others at work, and then purchase these products, "unique to Falmouth and hand crafted by the artisans," he said.
The other three artisan villages are to be established in Montego Bay, Port Antonio and Negril.
The project is spearheaded by the Urban Development Corporation, which has indicated that it plans to seek private-sector partnerships.