MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica (JIS) — Jamaica’s tourism minister, Edmund Bartlett, said he will be signing an agreement on Friday with his tourism counterpart in Cuba, which will facilitate multi-destination marketing between the countries.

Addressing the official opening of the Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX) Trade Show, at the Montego Bay Convention Centre on April 29, Bartlett also said that another agreement is to be signed soon between Jamaica and a number of Caribbean countries for a similar multi-destination marketing programme to commence.

“On Friday of next week (May 6), Minister (Manuel Cruz) Marrero (minister of tourism in Cuba) and myself will sign an agreement for multi-destination tourism between Cuba and Jamaica and somewhere in the middle of June, a similar signing will take place between the Dominican Republic and Jamaica,” he noted.

The minister said the push for multi-destination marketing for Jamaica and its Caribbean counterparts is necessary, because it has been discovered that the way forward for the growth of tourism in the region is based on island convergences and not island competitiveness.

“The way forward for the growth of tourism in the Caribbean is about collaboration and the sharing of resources and the rationalization of our space and the harmonization of our policies,” Bartlett argued.

Meanwhile, the minister praised the resilience of the tourism industry, pointing out that it remains the only industry in Jamaica that has grown every year over the last 30 years.

“We have grown between one and a half and two and a half per cent over the period,” he noted, adding that his plans for the industry include programmes which will push marketing and result in significant growth through partnership with the stakeholders.

He said the government will be pushing growth and prosperity, with tourism being one of the main vehicles involved.

“One of our main goals is to ensure the sustainable development of our nation and an improved standard of living for every Jamaican. The ministry of tourism will be instrumental in achieving the targets. It is a sector that has the potential to stimulate wide-scale economic activities, drive new growth in our communities, generate the jobs that we need so badly and earn billions of dollars in foreign exchange,” the minister said.