Business View Caribbean | April 2019

18 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN APRIL 2019 ASSOCIATION AT A GLANCE MINISTRY OF TOURISM, JAMAICA WHAT: Government body responsible for tourism policy WHERE: Kingston, Jamaica WEBSITE: www.mot.gov.jm Ministry of Tourism , Jamaica All about the passion points B usiness View Caribbean recently had an in-depth conversation with the Honorable Edmund Bartlett, Minister of Tourism for Jamaica. Topics ranged from resilience and crisis management, to the passion points of travel, entrepreneurialism, the wave of new room stock - even touching on Jamaica’s sweet spot – cocoa. The following is an edited transcript of that discussion. BVC: You are a champion of tourism in Jamaica. What has fueled that passion over the years? Minister Bartlett: “The minute I got into active review of the tourism sector, very early in 2001, I began to see how critical tourism is as an agent for economic growth and real development. The environment, which is really the product, has to be nurtured, honed, and carefully husbanded, so to speak, so that is sustains and thrives. We have to