Jamaica minister of tourism, Edmund Bartlett, has announced that the ministry will be offering a six-month moratorium on licences and fees that are to be paid by tourism entities.

Bartlett made this announcement earlier during a digital press briefing hosted by the ministry of tourism to update stakeholders.

According to the Bartlett, the categories of entities that are set to benefit include: resort cottages, apartments, guest houses, villas, homestays, car rentals, bike rentals, watersports, domestic tours, contract carriage and craft traders.

Ministry approved places of interests and various other categories that have work with the Jamaica Tourist Board and the tourism product development company for licences will also be included.

“The accumulative revenue that we forego for that six-month period, which will end in September of the year, will be J$9.7 million.

“This will give you some level of reprieve and hopefully help with the cash-flow situation for a number of our partners,” said Bartlett.

This six-month moratorium will be reviewed depending on the length of time it takes for the country to recover from the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

During the briefing the minister also announced that Gordon Shirley, chief executive of the Port Authority of Jamaica, has agreed to chair a cruise recovery programme for Covid-19.

“The panel that we have established is a very eminent one, which includes some of the best minds in the cruise sector and we are hoping to have them begin to work, as early as next Monday, April 20th.

“This will allow us to start putting protocols in place and begin engaging with our partners, to get that sector back on track as quickly as possible,” explained Bartlett. 

Minister Bartlett also provided an update on the tourism recovery task force, which was first announced during a digital media briefing on April 9th.

“We will be working on a hard-two-week drive, to get the framework of the recovery ready, for first discussion with a major international company.

“This company will be working with us to develop the technical aspect of the plan.

“We are going to be taking that plan to our partners.

“We want to create a new tourism after Covid-19 because we recognise the changes that are going to take place,” said the minister.

The task force will consist of two layers of partners whose mandate is to, among other things, provide a recovery and growth stimulation framework for the sector.

It was created to establish a realistic view of the baseline or starting position of the sector; develop scenarios for multiple versions of the future; establish the strategic posture for the sector as well as a broad direction of the journey back to growth; establish actions and strategic imperatives that will be reflected across various scenarios; and establish trigger points to tackle action, which includes a planned vision in a world that is learning to evolve rapidly.

More Information

Jamaica minister of tourism Edmund Bartlett earlier spoke to Breaking Travel News about why the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic must start now in order to avoid permanent damage being done to the tourism sector.

Take a look at his thoughts here.

Jamaica is considered the World’s Leading Family Destination by voters at the World Travel Awards.

Find out more about visiting – when the time is right – on the official website.