ROSE HALL, St James — In a joint appeal to members of Montego Bay’s business community, the ministers of tourism and industry have reiterated a call for local suppliers to take advantage of the demands that exist.

Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett and Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Senator Aubyn Hill made their appeal for local suppliers to up their game while speaking at the opening ceremony of Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Expo 2024 last Friday.

“We don’t have a market problem, we are good at it… we have a supply problem,” the senator told those gathered within the halls of the facility.

Hill, who was the guest speaker, explained that throughout his travels and meetings in his capacity as minister he has had to field calls for Jamaican goods, but not much is available.

“The big cry was, ‘We want more of Jamaican goods.’ Goya, a big brand in the United States, wanted 20 40-foot containers of ackee; they could get only one — that doesn’t hold the market for you,” he lamented.

He said there have been cries for other items such as mangoes and other Jamaican food, but these are not available in a quantity that can meet demand.

“They would take every single papaya and every single avocado we could grow in Jamaica, but we just don’t grow enough,” Hill said of a high-end supermarket chain in the United States with a Jamaican connection.

The minister contended there are a few locals willing to do some work, but their output is inadequate to meet the demand that exists.

“They want containers, they don’t want two boxes going in an airplane back, they want containers,” he insisted.

The tourism minister was also urgent in his appeal to suppliers to make the most of the opportunities available.

“I just want to say that tourism brings a demand for $365 billion of goods — not services, just goods,” Bartlett stated during his time on the podium.

“Last year we brought in four million tourists into the country and they spent $4 billion in the process, some of which stays with us because of what you do. The rest of it goes to purchase the things we don’t provide here,” he lamented.

He pointed to the growth that could be seen in the local economy if Jamaican products could be used within the tourism sector.

“The essence of tourism, for us, in wealth creation, is bounded in our ability to provide the supplies that are critical to the demand that tourism brings,” Bartlett stated.

“The truth is that the wealth that they bring when the plane lands and the cruise ship docks will be taken away, back in the same vessel on the return flight,” he said in warning what would happen without local suppliers filling the gap.

Hill, at the same time, insisted that the climate is ripe for the sort of growth needed on the supply side, with Government doing its part to provide the financial environment that fosters this type of activity.

“We haven’t been in the local capital markets to borrow money from Jamaican banks; we’ve left all the money so that all you business people can do it. Go and take the money and run the businesses,” he urged.