Senator Delano Seiveright, Minister of State within the Ministry of Tourism, Jamaica.
Supply: https://opm.gov.jm/
To assist face the mounting international challenges that the tourism trade in Jamaica is starting to face, one that’s reshaping its working setting, Senator Delano Seiveright, Minister of State within the Ministry of Tourism, has warned that international geopolitical and financial shifts are starting to affect Jamaica’s tourism sector.
The Minister of State for Tourism, Seiveright, acknowledged that rising prices are impacting the trade, and this new operation is creating a distinct setting. Seiveright referred to the disruption in international provide chains attributable to rising protectionism, commerce tensions, and escalating geopolitical instability.
Whereas chatting with the trade stakeholders on the Nationwide Business Financial institution (NCB) luncheon in Montego Bay final Wednesday, Seiveright stated the trade wants to deal with modifications comparable to altering international financial insurance policies, notably as central banks in main tourism markets comparable to North America and Europe transfer from tight to impartial stances. “These transitions may dampen shopper spending and affect journey selections,” he expressed.
Seiveright additionally highlighted the dramatic rise of short-term rental platforms comparable to Airbnb. He famous that Jamaica hosted about 59,000 Airbnb visitors in 2017 and that “by 2024, that determine had soared to roughly 840,000 visitors.”
He stated Airbnb is successfully working in Jamaica. “On this community-based tourism is one change that we’re enhancing… the Jamaican individuals are stepping up, opening their properties, and changing into tourism entrepreneurs,” the state minister reported.
The Minister of State expressed his considerations concerning the current resurgence of nationalism and protectionist rhetoric: “It’s unbelievable that in 2025, we’re having these conversations. Traditionally, this stuff have an odd method of repeating themselves. Tourism thrives on openness, on free motion, and people beliefs are underneath strain.”
In persevering with, Seiveright declared that he would search new international alternatives regardless of new challenges. He famous China’s increasing outbound tourism market and the potential advantages of worldwide infrastructure partnerships. The transformative position of digital instruments, arts intelligence platforms like ChatGPT, and the rising relevance of information governance are methods to ” do enterprise, interact clients, and plan forward,” the minister added.
“Now we have been battling the consequences of the U.S. journey advisory, and we’re actually hoping for excellent news very quickly on that,” he added. “There was fairly a bit of tension and uncertainty, particularly amongst inexperienced card holders. That has been a novel problem for us.”
The state minister stated that, because the official accountable for tourism linkages, he reiterates the federal government’s dedication to making sure that the advantages of tourism are broadly shared.
