JCTI & HEART/NSTA Trust Collaborate on Tourism Job Readiness

As tourism grapples with staffing challenges in the wake of COVID-19, Jamaica Centre of Tourism Innovation (JCTI) is proposing a strategy.

This strategy addresses the need to attract new recruits and prepare them for available jobs in the tourism industry.

In delivering the 2023/24 Sectoral Debate closing presentation on Tuesday (June 20), Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, said: “The tourism sector continues to be hampered by the challenges of finding adequate staffing as a result of thousands of workers opting not to return to the industry post-pandemic. With support from partners, the JCTI is moving to recruit team members from among students graduating from high school in June and July 2023.”

Furthermore, Minister Bartlett revealed that the JCTI, which is a division of the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), has asked the HEART/NSTA Trust to develop a Job Readiness Program specifically for new entrants to the tourism sector. Successful candidates will receive an NCTVET certificate.

“I think that it is also important to note that for the first time, we have an associate degree in hotel management and customer service for the sixth formers of over 30 high schools in Jamaica,” the tourism minister stressed, adding:

“The goal is to attract 2,000 to 3,000 new recruits to the industry.”

The Jamaica Ministry of Tourism and its agencies are on a mission to enhance and transform Jamaica’s tourism product, while ensuring that the benefits which flow from the tourism sector are increased for all Jamaicans. To this end it has implemented policies and strategies that will provide further momentum for tourism as the engine of growth for the Jamaican economy. The Ministry remains committed to ensuring that the tourism sector makes the fullest contribution possible to Jamaica’s economic development given its tremendous earning potential.

At the Ministry, they are leading the charge to strengthen the linkages between tourism and other sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, and entertainment, and in so doing encourage every Jamaican to play their part in improving the country’s tourism product, sustaining investment, and modernizing and diversifying the sector to foster growth and job creation for fellow Jamaicans. The Ministry sees this as critical to Jamaica’s survival and success and has undertaken this process through an inclusive approach, which is driven by the Resort Boards, through wide-scale consultation.