Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett said on Thursday that he would be engaging in a series of meetings with local bankers hoping to convince them to extend credit to entrepreneurs in the tourism industry.
Bartlett, while reviewing the tourism sector’s mid-season performance, said that while the industry had numerous local suppliers, they were mostly tradesmen who, in fact, imported the goods supplied from abroad.
Opportunities existed, he said, in the manufacture of uniforms for hotel staff and bedding, such as sheets and pillows. In agro-processing, entrepreneurs could produce tomato paste, juices, jams, pepper mash and other foods and condiments used in the industry, he said.
Bartlett insists that tourism-related business was highly bankable activity, given the size of the sector and its continued growth. Tourism contributed 22 per cent to GDP in 2017, and the minister says he expects the 2018 data, which are yet available to reflect an higher ratio.
Bartlett was euphoric over numbers for the current winter season which shows 900,000 stopover visitors from January 1 to February 27. The numbers exclude cruise visitors which he said would increase the impact. Stopover numbers to date, he said, are up 14 per cent year over year.
The tourism minister also reported at a media briefing that employment in the sector grew by 19,000 jobs in 2018, pushing direct employment to 120,000, excluding attractions and cruise lines.
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