The Government is moving to develop Jamaica as a planning supply hub for the local tourism sector and for other tourism-dependent nations in the region.
Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, made the disclosure as he closed the 2022/23 Sectoral debate in the House of Representatives on June 14.
He said that the move will “give Jamaican entities the necessary muscles needed to grow locally, regionally and internationally”.
Minister Bartlett noted that the idea of the logistic supply hub for Jamaica and the other Caribbean islands came out of the Tourism Recovery Task Force chaired by Wilfred Baghaloo in 2020.
The terms of reference for the project are currently being developed by the Ministry of Tourism.
Minister Bartlett said the hope is that by the winter season “we would have been able to put in place the mechanism to see the first of those entities that are going to be involved”.
Mr. Bartlett said the hub will help to eliminate some of the supply chain uncertainties.
“The establishment of the supply logistics centre in the free zone [will] enable our local suppliers to scale up and to be able to respond effectively and well to the call and the demand that this particular disruption is causing,” he said.
