Caribbean News
Jamaica Tourism Minister wants JA Rum Festival added to offerings
#KINGSTON, Jan. 17 (JIS): Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says he wants the annual Jamaica Rum Festival to become a part of the island’s tourism offerings, and has given the Ministry’s support to help make the event an established product.
Speaking at the launch of the Festival on January 15 at Devon House in Kingston, the Minister said that the Ministry, along with the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), is pumping $6 million into the festival as part of its partnership with the rum companies that are hosting the festival.
The event will be held from February 29 to March 1 at Hope Gardens in Kingston.
“We want the Rum Festival to be a product, not an event. And so from this day forth, all the infrastructure required to make this festival a product will be put in place with the support of the Ministry, to make sure that every year we can go to the market and package this festival with rooms and with seats and bring the visitors to Jamaica to consume this critical asset,” the Minister said.
He argued that the Rum Festival, coupled with the recently launched Coffee Festival, will serve to enhance the country’s global appeal as a travel destination, and strengthen the country’s gastronomical appeal.
“We have been able to bring five critical areas of what we call the passions of people… which drive people to travel, and food is the number-one reason why people travel,” the Minister said.
“So the right thing to do is to build out food experiences, because when you do that, you will be bringing the enticement, the allurement, the glue, the pull that will take the visitors to your destination,” he added.
For her part, Director of Marketing, J. Wray and Nephew Limited, Marsha Lumley, said the rum company is proud to be building Jamaica’s lifestyle product, while expressing delight that the festival was dubbed as one of the significant milestones of the tourism industry last year by the Ministry.
“For Appleton Estate, the Rum Festival is a continued investment to propel our range of blends and ensure that a bit of our island’s golden spirit is in every glass, not only in Jamaica but across the globe,” she said.
Ms. Lumley also thanked her partners in the rum industry – Monymusk, Hampden Estate, Wray and Nephew White Overproof Rum, Charley’s JB Rum, Sangster’s Rum Cream and Worthy Park Estate Rum – for helping to further elevate the industry as a global leader.
The two-day event, which will be jointly staged by the Tourism Ministry and the TEF, in collaboration with J. Wray and Nephew Limited’s Appleton Estate Jamaica Rum, aims to promote various ways in which rum can be utilised and enjoyed, boost Kingston’s tourism product and showcase Jamaica’s cultural excellence in food, beverage and music.
Patrons will be exposed to the rum-making process, and allowed to sample a variety of blends.
KINGSTON, April 29 (JIS):
Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator the Hon. Matthew Samuda, says the outcome of discussions arising from the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) will assist in guiding the Government’s planning for climate change.
This, he points out, is important for climate mitigation as well as building Jamaica’s resilience.
“We look forward to the discussions that will, no doubt, take place. We look forward to the basis of planning for the Government to streamline its investments to ensure you have the tools that you need to better advise us, that the WRA (Water Resources Authority) has the tools to digitise its monitoring network, and that all of the agencies that touch our planning mechanisms have the tools. But we need to know what we are facing, and we’re guided by your expertise,” Minister Samuda said.
He was addressing the opening ceremony for the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in New Kingston on Monday (April 29).
Senator Samuda said given the fact that the climate has changed and continues to do so, investments in and collaborations on building Jamaica’s predictive and scientific capacity must be prioritised.
“Ultimately, we need to be able to assess our current climatic realities if we are to better plan, if we’re to insist and ensure that our infrastructure meets the needs that we need it to. I’m very happy that this event is happening… because this is a critical issue.
“Jamaica, last year, faced its worst and most severe drought… and this year, we’re already seeing the impacts of not quite as severe a drought but, certainly, a drought with severe impacts, especially in the western part of the country,” he said.
Principal Director, Meteorological Service of Jamaica, Evan Thompson, explained that the forum aims to, among other things, establish a collaboration platform for climate services providers and users to understand risks and opportunities of past, present and future climate developments, as well as improve inter-agency coordination of policies, plans and programmes.
Among the other presenters were Ambassador, European Union to Jamaica, Her Excellency Marianne Van Steen; Chief Scientist/Climatologist, Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology, Adrian Trotman; and Head, Regional Climate Prediction Services, World Meteorological Organization, Wilfran Moufouma-Okia.
The Meteorological Service of Jamaica hosted the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) in partnership with the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology and the World Meteorological Organization.
The National Stakeholder Consultation is a governance mechanism that guides how different sectors or actors work together to create products that contribute to adaptation and resilience-building. It seeks to create a road map for the development and implementation of climate services to inform decision-making.
NCF-1 aims to bridge the gap between climate providers and users. It increases the use of science-based information in decision-making and operations with the aim of generating and delivering co-produced and co-designed products and services.
CONTACT: CHRIS PATTERSON
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