Fifty tourism entities and more than 90 buyers, seeking to take advantage of networking opportunities, participated in Jamaica’s seventh annual speed networking event for the sector. The event featured a series of 15-minute pre-scheduled meetings between managing directors, general managers, and chief executive officers of local supplier companies of products and services, along with owners and managers of properties, restaurants, attractions, and other tourism entities.
The event was hosted by the Tourism Linkages Network (TLN) in collaboration with the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA), Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO), Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), and Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC). It was staged at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James on March 31.
In his address during the opening ceremony Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, said the participating buyers and sellers were important, as they form a critical component of the industry’s unlimited consumption patterns.
“The production side must be as strong and effective to meet the demand side,” he said.
Bartlett further underscored the need for a “new and exciting” industry production process.
“I think we have to look at how to create something of a supply logistics centre that is not only going to drive production, but also provide [the] ability for us to respond to the demand which is in the rest of the Caribbean,” the minister said.
“They are [experiencing] the same effect of the disruption in the supply chain; but Jamaica has become that centre for response to them,” Bartlett added.
