Jamaica Tourism Minister Underscores Importance of Small Suppliers

A new marketing gateway is being opened by way of the tourism linkages strategy, for the “the ordinary Jamaican” to benefit from dollar resources of the growing industry.

An indication of this working was given by minister of tourism, Edmund Bartlett earlier as he delivered the keynote address at a ceremony renaming a street in honor of Godfrey Dyer.

As of yesterday, the Sunset Boulevard which links directly with the Sangster International Airport, is to be known as Godfrey Dyer Boulevard. The initiative is evolving in Lilliput, St James, home of the Iberostar Hotels.

According to Bartlett, there “small suppliers, using old tires, discarded pans and other receptacles and borrowing on the technology of hydroponics, are now producing tomatoes and bell peppers that are now ready for the market, and Iberostar is ready to buy”.

The minister said while that may seem to be a little thing, “it is big thing because once that is replicated you will find that the ordinary man who thought that living around the hotel only meant working for the hotel, is now going to find that he can be a big supplier to the hotel that is across the road from him”.

Having played a pivotal role in the creation of the Tourism Enhancement Fund while serving as president of the Jamaica Hotel & Tourism Association, Dyer is now in his second term as chairman of TEF.

Under his chairmanship Bartlett declared: “Godfrey has done a tremendous job with the fund especially as it relates to the level of development it has supported.”

Montego Bay, regarded as the main pillar of the island’s tourism industry, has seen more development than any other entity, said Bartlett.

Most recently under the leadership of minister Bartlett, Jamaica has been recognized as the Caribbean’s Leading Destination by voters at the World Travel Awards for the past 14 consecutive years.