#MontegoBay, December 1, 2022 – Chairman of the Tourism Linkages Network, Adam Stewart, says the COVID-19 pandemic brought about unprecedented collaboration between tourism stakeholders, which will be the blueprint for success going forward.

Participating in a panel discussion at the Invest Jamaica 2022 Business Conference, at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St. James on November 29, Mr. Stewart, who is also Executive Chairman of Sandals Resorts International, said it was a humbling experience for stakeholders during the height of the COVID-19 onslaught, especially during the period of March 2020 when all the seaports and airports were ordered closed.

“[It is my sincere hope] that the collaborative spirit we saw then and what we are still seeing now will continue. It’s not what Sandals experienced. It’s what we all went through together. And, collectively, it was the first time that the cruise ships and the land base were working with the airlines,” he noted.

“We were working with companies like the Wynn Corporation and Disney. Everyone came together. Jamaica was a microcosm of what was taking place in the Caribbean. The Caribbean was a microcosm of what was taking place worldwide, and we came together in a way that showed that when there is a big enough problem, people can set aside competitive tensions and work to the greater good. I’d like to see a lot more of that as we move forward,” Mr. Stewart added.

He said the Government must be given a lot of  credit for acting decisively during the height of the pandemic onslaught, noting that it was also made possible by the unwavering support from the private sector.

Mr. Stewart said he was also impressed with the patience shown by Jamaicans on a whole, pointing to the many lockdowns and loss of jobs that  reverberated loudly throughout the economy.

“For the first time ever… certainly in my years… I don’t think anything has ever happened like this before. We saw the connectivity and the maturity of Jamaica’s democracy. We saw the trust and the respect between public and private sectors come together in a way that we’ve probably never seen before. And it proved to us that we can solve any problem that we have, either as a country or as a region, if we come together,” he said.

Mr. Stewart pointed out that Jamaica made a lot of very good decisions swiftly and that allowed the country to reopen in a safe way.

Contact: Garwin Davis

Release: JIS