MINISTER of Tourism Edmund Bartlett is urging small and medium-sized tourism enterprises to shift their focus and approach from the industrial era to capitalise on global modern marketing opportunities to satisfy what the changing world of tourism now requires.

“Our strategy in building the small and medium tourism enterprises to continue to be the backbone of the experiences of tourism has got to change. Your Government and our ministry started that change five years ago when we established the Jamaica Centre of Tourism Innovation [JCTI], the purpose of which was to begin the upskilling and the changing of attitudes based on the provision of new information about what the world is going to require,” said Bartlett.

He was addressing at the 10th annual staging of the Christmas in July trade show held on Thursday at the National Arena.

Bartlett said tourism will be mostly impacted by the modern changes in the economy, noting that the industry is moving from an industrial age to what he described as the “knowledge age”.

He argued that through development and training programmes, alongside providing opportunities for small business owners to take out loans, the tourism industry, through the JCTI, has provided tangible opportunities for small and medium business enterprises to build their brands towards the economic shift.

“We are making larger and more effective equipment that are flying longer and higher and faster and taking more people, and what that means is that destinations like Jamaica will now have to respond to those changes that are happening in the global space, and we have to build the capacity of our small and medium enterprises. So the strategy, therefore, was a three-point development plan for our small and medium enterprises,” said the tourism minister.

Bartlett also said more emphasis needs to be placed on finding ways to appeal to more tourists globally from different and unfamiliar communities and culture.

“Traditionally we have grown up knowing and learning how to serve essentially Caucasian tourists. We haven’t learned how to serve tourists from the middle east, tourists from India, tourists from the Latin American areas, tourists from Africa who are now coming from various parts of the world because new economic opportunities have opened and a new expansion of middle-class across the world has emerged and also connectivity, where you now can connect with destinations within almost no time,” said Bartlett.

Speaking on the importance of the Christmas in July trade show to these proposed developments, Bartlett said this exposure presents marketing opportunities for small and medium exhibitors to benefit from what he described as exponential opportunities presented due to the growth of the country’s tourism industry.

“Christmas in July represents an arena for the showcasing of your products, but it also is a marketplace, because what it does is to bring buyers and sellers together and over 400 of you have been participating and some $25 million of business was done last year and we are expecting that you will do better this year,” he said.

In the meantime, Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Aubyn Hill encouraged business owners to learn from the experiences of Hurricane Beryl and build back smarter and stronger while developing new and improved ideas to increase preparation and resistance against future natural disasters.

“We have done some things well, but there are some things we have to do better. Our per capita GDP [gross domestic product] is still hovering around five to six thousand, which is too low, we have had 61 years of negative trade balance, that must change, and the MSME [micro, small and medium-sized enterprises] people in here are vital to this change.

“Nobody is going to change it for us…we Jamaicans must do it. Beryl gives us an opportunity to come together and change our country to make it stronger and better and bigger. And this today, Christmas in July, a week after Beryl is the right time to make that statement and go out and make it work,” said Hill.

Meanwhile, managing director at Bartley’s All In Wood Lacey-Ann Bartley shared how her previous involvement with Christmas in July helped her business to grow in several aspects.

“I have been privileged to be at all the stagings of Christmas in July… Being here at Christmas in July has allowed me to walk through many doors, [and] I have had the ability to meet many purchasing marketers who buy products from Bartley’s All In Wood,” said Bartley.

The Christmas in July trade show is a collaborative effort of the Tourism Enhancement Fund through its division under the Tourism Linkages Network. It is an opportunity for medium and small tourism enterprises to showcase their work and highlight Brand Jamaica through their developments. This year’s show saw 205 exhibitors present at the showcase which included 105 first-time enterprises.

From left: Science2ArtGG Art Gallery manager Gina Gray shows one of her designs to chief executive officer at JBDC Valerie Viera, Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett, Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Aubyn Hill, executive director of the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) Carey Wallace, and president of the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association Sydney Thwaites.

Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Aubyn Hill (left) engages in conversation with president of the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association Sydney Thwaites at the 10th annual staging of the Christmas in July trade show held at the National Arena on Thursday.