Gwaan Bartlett!!!!!!!

[Sir X]

Lip service,another 20 years before the government does anything,by then your little initiative is leading the way.

Kissteeeth .

[Don1]

Kudos to Holness for the lip service,its a start,now the hard part,getting 1 off the ground ,up and running.

Yes it is something. But I see zero long term, well thought out strategy here. Maybe they have one...but it's not apparent. Seems that people are just now waking up and realizing that we're in the 21st century...not the 1980s. Then doing lots of yapping about STEM, sci-tech etc and pushing half-baked ideas.

Wake me up when they start implementing a long term industrial policy which includes a future labour force upgraded in tech capability - Starting the process from primary school though tertiary level.. There's no other way that works for systemic change.

JA needs to choose 2-3 future-proofed tech applications to focus training on over a 20 year horizon. Specialization drives expertise. Expertise in key tech apps (1) Drives investment (2) Enables the expert to create his own business, develop modern products & services and create opportunities for progress

Announcing the building of a few "STEM Centers" really doesn't move the needle. At this rate it seems to be window dressing to me which gets some with superficial knowledge excited. Hopefully I'm wrong but I doubt it.

[Don1]

It seems you can't help but be a dummy

When I said that tourism is and can be the main driver of the Jamaican economy, some people rant and rave about STEM. This is because they have such a narrow view of the industry and its potential. The two are intricately tied to each other.

Tourism is and has been "the main driver of the Jamaican economy" since the 1960s - 60+ years. We've seen where this low level industry drives the economy - into a dead end. Only a dummy would dress up tourism and conflate it with a technology enterprise Since technology reaches EVERY INDUSTRY - is every industry qualified to be regarded as a tech enterprise??? Dummy reasoning in the extreme

However, developing and building out on the existing tourism industry is the faster and the most logical way towards achieving the goal of a more modern and sustainable economy. Getting the poor youths of the ghettos into jobs now, albeit low-skilled, has more far-reaching long-term benefits than trying to change Jamaica's economy into a STEM-driven one.

We've seen for 60+ years that a dependence on tourism to lead the economy to prosperity is a rank FAILURE. We see now that tourism is booming according to Mr Ed...and the economy remains flat. Expecting the impact of tourism to change for the better by doing more of the same - is a sign of illogical thinking i.e. dummy-talk.

Of course Jamaican youth should get jobs. It's not a question of jobs now or no jobs because there's a focus on tech. That's a false representation of my argument.

If you do this knowingly it seems you're a liar. If you misunderstand my argument (esp since it's been stated many times) and present this crap in response...you're a dummy. Pick yuh poison

Dominica Republic, Brazil, Mexico and other Latin countries are already benefiting from Health Tourism. If the government spend some money towards developing this sector, it will inevitably improve Jamaica's health system and go a long way towards retaining medical personnel.

The mission of health tourism is NOT to improve health outcomes for Jamaicans...unless they fall in the cohort that can afford relatively expensive health care. The mission is to make money from foreigners. Any benefit to Jamaicans who're not well off will be incidental and of little to no overall impact. The same outcome as in the all-inclusive warehouse type tourism practiced in JA

If GOJ wants to improve health care for Jamaicans it should invest in health services targeted at Jamaicans..period.

[Assasin]

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...s-in-Rose-Hall

Montego Hope Medical Centre (This is at Halfmoon)

Two example

[Assasin]

believe it or not it may cost less to go abroad or it based on specialty. I am not sure but some of these hospital exist. Sometimes stars may disappear to do plastic surgery etc.

[Reggaedoc]

jamaica have very good private hospitals. Yes the public healthcare need a lot of fixing but Health tourism could be a part of the solution. It would keep some of our professionals who go overseas and would call for more training of healthcare professionals and caregivers. It would mean we have some of the best technology on the island, just to name a few.

If Jamaica has such good private hospitals why do the gentry and their families invariably go overseas for the what can be considetrde routine and basic stuff?

[Assasin]

yes that is the way I see it too. It needs a private-public sector combination. Halfmoon already have their private hospital and you have one other in Mobay but those are very small.

[Jangle]

When I said that tourism is and can be the main driver of the Jamaican economy, some people rant and rave about STEM. This is because they have such a narrow view of the industry and its potential. The two are intricately tied to each other. However, developing and building out on the existing tourism industry is the faster and the most logical way towards achieving the goal of a more modern and sustainable economy. Getting the poor youths of the ghettos into jobs now, albeit low-skilled, has more far-reaching long-term benefits than trying to change Jamaica's economy into a STEM-driven one.

Dominica Republic, Brazil, Mexico and other Latin countries are already benefiting from Health Tourism. If the government spend some money towards developing this sector, it will inevitably improve Jamaica's health system and go a long way towards retaining medical personnel.

[Assasin]

jamaica have very good private hospitals. Yes the public healthcare need a lot of fixing but Health tourism could be a part of the solution. It would keep some of our professionals who go overseas and would call for more training of healthcare professionals and caregivers. It would mean we have some of the best technology on the island, just to name a few.

[Jangle]

Tech Beach ready for its Google-sponsored event

In its bid to attract global influence to Caribbean shores Tech Beach Retreat has successfully landed a headline sponsorship with global tech giant Google for the upcoming staging in Montego Bay at Iberostar, December 5-7 2019.


Google, one of the world's largest tech companies and the world's foremost search engine is seeking to expand the reach of its products and invite Caribbean nationals and more diverse audiences to build on the company's infrastructure, yielding new products and enterprises.


The company will be represented by a large contingent of executives during Tech Beach Retreat.
One of the key representatives who will speak on behalf of the tech company is Annie Jean-Baptiste, Google's head of product inclusion, research and activation. Jean-Baptiste leads product inclusion strategy across the company, including consultation, communications, scale and research. With a passion for diversity and equity, Jean-Baptiste then transitioned to the global diversity & inclusion team and works to make Google a place where everyone is championed for their differences.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/artic...191129895/1056

[Jangle]

Dominican Republic and Jamaica leads in regional hotel construction
US hotel performance growth forecast to fall below 1%

The Dominican Republic and Jamaica came out as the top performers in the growth in hotel construction in the Caribbean region, according to a newly-released report from hotel analytics firm, STR.


The Dominican Republic is the top performer with 5,738 rooms in construction, a 7.9 per cent increase compared to 2018. This is followed by Jamaica, which reported 1,925 rooms in construction.
This represents a 7.7 per cent increase for Jamaica followed by Cuba, which had 1,128 rooms in construction, a 1.7 per cent increase.


The report from STR, which provides premium data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights for global hospitality sectors, shows that hotel construction continues to grow in the wider Caribbean-Mexico region.


In that region there were a total of 151 hotel projects comprising 30,809 rooms as of October this year, which represents a 16.8 per cent jump compared to the same period in 2018.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/artic...191129894/1056

[Jangle]

H10 hotel in Trelawny to start receiving guests next month


Tourism officials are upbeat over next month's opening of the first phase of Ocean Coral Spring, the new US$250 million ($34 billion) investment from Spanish Hotel chain, H10 in Coral Spring, Trelawny.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness officially broke ground for the hotel in Coral Spring on Wednesday, February 6 for the all-inclusive hotel which will begin accepting guests in December.

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett expressed satisfaction with the pace of the development.

“We have created an encouraging climate for investment, which has led to a keen interest by leading global and local brands. H10 is just one of them and we are very encouraged by the speed of development,” Bartlett said.

“We continue to focus on growing our earnings per visitor and striving to retain more of those earnings in Jamaica; we are creating business opportunities and generating improvements in the competitiveness of our tourism product; and we are building out the supporting infrastructure, which is vital to a sustainable tourism sector.”

Senior advisor and strategist for Tourism, Delano Seiveright, is encouraging stakeholders to seize the numerous opportunities that will spin off from the opening of Ocean Coral Spring and other hotels on stream for the parish of Trelawny.

“This resort development by H10 is just another representation of a rapidly growing sector. Trelawny in particular is at the epicentre of a very significant growth spurt in tourism development.

“We want to encourage local stakeholders to not only note these developments, but act on them as quite a number of opportunities will spin off from all these developments. One just have to look at the thousands of jobs being created, the tens of thousands of new tourists and the consequent need for a range of support services ranging from new attractions, ground transportation and new housing,”Seivright argued.”

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/busin...8?profile=1056

[Sir X]

Kudos: Holness.

Kudos to Holness for the lip service,its a start,now the hard part,getting 1 off the ground ,up and running.

[Reggaedoc]

JAMPRO seeks to boost medical, health and wellness tourism

In an effort to boost medical, and health and wellness tourism in the island, Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO) has held discussions with the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Health and Wellness geared towards attracting more visitors for treatment and surgical procedures in Jamaica.

According to Dr Andrew Spencer, executive director, Tourism Product Development Company Limited (TPDCo), Jamaica is capable of meeting the medical, health and wellness needs of people from other countries, and the Government, through the Ministry of Tourism and its agents, such as TPDCo, will continue to explore possibilities for growth and expansion of the subsectors that include medical, and health and wellness tourism.

Dr Spencer was speaking after his address to more than 200 youth who are interested in having careers in the tourism sector, at TPDCo’s Youth Expo and Career Fair, at the Girl Guides Association of Jamaica headqaurters in St Andrew recently.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/n...llness-tourism

Really?. I appears to me that Jamaica can hardly meet the expected basic health and wellness needs of the average Jamaican. Why dont they fix that first?

[Assasin]

mawning sah.