TOURISM Minister Dr Wykeham McNeill says that the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) has committed an additional $200 million over the next five years to enhancing the work of the Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA).

“We have done a lot of work with PICA, the passport and immigration department, and over the next five years, the Tourism Enhancement Fund will be spending somewhere around $200 million on enhancing the work of PICA,” Dr McNeill announced while addressing the Annual Tourism Outlook Seminar last Thursday.

The two-day seminar held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre at Rose Hall in St James, ended on Friday.

The move by TEF forms part of several steps being undertaken by the government to facilitate travel, Dr McNeill said.

According to Dr McNeill, the funds committed to PICA will be used to facilitate the introduction of new technology and to re-engineer the operations at immigration.

“We think that moving people through our airports, as quickly as possible, is a very important thing,” he said, adding that it is a critical element of travel facilitation.

Other steps being taken by the government to facilitate travel, Dr McNeill said, include:

1) the removal of restrictive visa requirements;

2) making airports more customer-friendly and less cumbersome while bearing in mind the need to maintain effective security measures;

3) collaboration between the Tourism and National Security ministries in reducing the processing time for incoming immigration; and

4) work on simplifying customs and immigration forms.