Jamaica minister of tourism, Edmund Bartlett, has said his team will be developing a Tourism Supplies Hub that will help to position the Caribbean destination as the premier logistics centre in the region.

The hub will focus on training and certification of tourism workers, serving as suppliers for cruise and airlines, and resilience and technology support.

The minister made the announcement during his address at the Jamaica Hotel & Tourist Association’s 59th annual general meeting, which was hosted virtually earlier.

During his address, he added that this hub would be “a critical response to the cruise companies, which have indicated that they would like to secure supplies from Jamaica as well as additional workers”.

He shared that his ministry has been proactive with its approach to the cruise industry, by meeting with them frequently to get updates on how the industry will safely re-open.

“We have been in long discussions with our cruise partners.

“Although I cannot announce to you today the exact date when cruise will resume in Jamaica, I can tell you that we have been very vigorous in terms of our efforts to redefine the relationships between the cruise industry stakeholders and ourselves,” Bartlett added.

“This is being done with the hope of ensuring that a greater level of not just resources will come to Jamaica but that Jamaica will benefit greater from the ability that the cruise lines have to generate more local involvement and more inclusiveness, in terms of the returns from the sector.”

The tourism ministry is also seeking to launch a collaborative global marketing campaign that will bring partners in private sector and government together to speak with one voice and market Jamaica as a Covid-19 resilient destination.

The campaign will be based on the world-class protocols and innovative resilient corridors.