News

Jamaica continues to uphold a thriving tourism industry for local stakeholders in the non-food manufacturing industry to do business.

According to the Ministry of Tourism, Jamaica is on course to welcome 3.88 million visitors this year comprising 2.74 million stopover arrivals and 1.13 million cruise-ship passengers, with the estimated earnings of US$4.2 billion.

With these numbers expected to grow in 2024, collaborative efforts of the country’s tourism stakeholders and an increase in production to bolster supply chain integration between sectors are paramount.

Shullette Cox, President of JAMPRO, underscored this during a recently held Tourism and Non-Food Manufacturing Linkages Forum at Holiday Inn Resort in Montego Bay.

“I want to point out in particular that or tourism expenditure, it is not just the number of visitors that are coming here that is growing but the spending is growing and that’s important. It grew by $1.5 million in 2022 and that means that people are spending more yearly,” she stated.

President Cox shared that key areas of opportunity within the niche comprise food production, craft and souvenir production, community tourism, health and wellness tourism and professional service niches.

JAMPRO, as an agency which serves as a catalyst for sustainable economic growth by driving investments anticipates the industry’s expansion with the addition of 20,000 more hotel rooms, to the approximately 30,000 currently available.

“When we look at construction happening [and] places that have broken ground just in the last year or two, there are around 8000 rooms that could potentially be opening up in the next two years and that’s a lot of growth potential,” President Cox disclosed during her remarks.

Several non-food manufacturing suppliers within the cosmetics, chemicals and pharmaceuticals niches which successfully explored business opportunities with stakeholders during the Forum have also noticed the rise in demand.

Richard Maccalla, a Sales Representative for Trade at B-H Paints, who participated as a supplier, expressed, “The hotel industry is vast, offering numerous supply opportunities.” He highlighted that the Forum facilitated the arrangement of several follow-up meetings, fostering further business engagements.

Furthermore, Javin Williams, Chief Executive Officer at Herboo Corporation Limited, praised the Forum as “exceptional.” He stated, “We gained valuable insights into the specific requirements hotels have from us as manufacturers, allowing us to better meet their needs. I have already secured approximately six potential partnerships today. These hotels are interested in featuring our brand in their spas, and we will be sending them samples. From this, we are optimistic about establishing strong leads.”

For her part, Nadia Brown, General Manager of Zoetry Wellness and Spa Resorts shared that links between suppliers and the resort were re-established, as a result of the event.

“We have actually also met brand new suppliers on the market, who had products that actually supply our needs now for our guests, so we thought as a team that this has been extremely effective,” she stated.

Overall, 11 hotels and 26 non-food manufacturing suppliers participated in the Forum, as JAMPRO remains committed to facilitating the growth and development of the country.