Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, has highlighted the need for more local supplies to be channeled into the sector to increase the revenue-retention level from the current 40 cents per dollar.
Preliminary gross earnings from tourism for fiscal year 2023/24 are estimated at a record US$4.38 billion, reflecting a 9.6 per cent increase compared to 2022/23.
Approximately 40 per cent of those earnings stay in Jamaica.
Addressing Wednesday’s (May 1) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, Mr. Bartlett said that Jamaica could retain more of the tourism dollar if the sector’s import bill is reduced.
“We have to invest more on the supply side so that the 40 cents which stays here can become 50 or 60 dollars. The less we import is the more we retain, and we have a nice phrase for it – we say we want to ‘plug the leakages’ by strengthening the linkages,” he said.
Mr. Bartlett explained that there are goods and services that must be imported, with one of the main categories being food such as wines, rice and flour.
“Tourism is divided in the two elements of economics – demand and supply. Demand is how to ‘buy’ the tourists to come to Jamaica. The supply side is what they do, what they eat, what they drink, what we provide here at home, and that’s where the wealth is,” Mr. Bartlett said.
The Ministry is placing focus on the supply side of the sector and ensuring that more Jamaicans are generating earnings from tourism-related activities, through initiatives such as the Agri-Linkages Exchange (ALEX) platform.
The online facility, which involves collaboration between the Tourism Enhancement Fund and the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), brings hoteliers into direct contact with farmers to supply establishments with fresh produce.
The ALEX platform generated more than $1 billion in sales for small farmers in 2023.