Bartlett urges investment in experiential tourism assets
Published:Thursday | August 5, 2021 | 12:27 AMJanet Silvera/Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
As international tourism trends reflect a shift from the traditional ‘sun, sea and sand’ to experiential-type travel, prospective investors in Jamaica are being urged to capitalise on soft adventure, natural parks, hiking, mountain trails, and cabin and hut accommodation.
“The shift is now towards interactive, experiential tourism,” Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett told delegates attending the Caribbean Alternative Investment Association meeting at the AC Hotel by Marriott in Kingston last Thursday. The tourism minister argued that experiential tourism was one of the fastest growing subsectors, appealing to markets interested in gastronomy, nature, heritage and cultural experiences in the destinations selected by tourists.
This shift, Bartlett said, would provide tremendous benefit to small and medium tourism enterprise (SMTE) operators, who are currently earning merely 20 per cent of the profits being made by the sector. According to him, to capitalise on the economic benefits of the growth in experiential tourism, it is critical to invest in entities that cater to this type of tourism.
The suggestion comes while Jamaica has earned the reputation of being an all-inclusive destination, with the majority of the planned 7,600 rooms slated for construction in the next two years being funded largely by foreign direct investments and to a smaller extent local investors, continuing the trend.
“When we discuss and measure foreign direct investments in tourist destinations, we usually refer to large-scale hotel developments, airports, infrastructure and major attractions.
“However, tourism is the fastest way to transfer foreign exchange from wealthy countries to developing nations; not solely through large-scale investments, but through backward and forward linkages in the tourism sector,” he explained.
Eighty per cent of tourism activity is driven by SMTEs, he revealed, adding that in order to achieve sustainability in tourism while creating diversity, greater attention must be paid to the tourism value chain, where the real drivers of growth and development exist. “We can only do this through investment in these businesses, which are the backbone of our economy.”
His comments come on the heels of forecast by him for an ambitious recovery of the tourism sector by 2024, with visitor arrivals of 4.2 million and revenues of an estimated US$4.0 billion. Millenials are expected to drive a large share of the demand for experiential travel.
This follows the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism, resulting in the Government losing direct revenues from the sector of J$46.3 billion through airport charges and taxes, guest accommodation room tax, General Consumption Tax (GCT), Tourism Enhancement Fund collections, cruise taxes and other government taxes.