Call for stronger policies to increase uptake of local goods in tourism sector

By Nakinskie Robinson   

 

Experts in the manufacturing industry are echoing calls for the government to implement strict policy-driven measures for imports in the tourism sector.

 

The tourism import bill has long been a subject of grievance for local manufacturers who contend that existing laws favour importers by granting duty free procurement of goods such as furniture, which can be manufactured locally.

 

Former President of the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association and Chairman of Boss Furniture Company, Omar Azan, argues that locally procured items are on par and sometimes surpass the quality of imported products used in hotels.

 

Mr. Azan adds that local manufacturers can manage demands across the sector. 

 

"If they even tripled the rooms counts that they have, two manufacturing companies can more than provide the needs of those companies. The supply of other things like water and ketchup and all the different spices and the different things that we produce here in Jamaica, there's no reason why hotels operating in Jamaica cannot find ways of procuring," he argued.

 

"We can't have these hoteliers just coming in, investing, taking our beaches, building these hotels and then not trickling down, sending some of that money into the local economy," added Mr. Azan. 

 

Meanwhile, JMEA President Sydney Thwaites said manufacturers have been pressing for policy-backed measures that will benefit the local economy. 

 

"We are in no way talking about dropping a standard. So it's making sure that the companies that do have the ability to meet all the specifications and price points...have a role in the supply chain."

 

He complained that moral suasion has not worked. 

 

"We're not saying we have not had some inroads but just not to the scale that we need. We believe and we've had discussions around making it a mandate in certain areas where we can show that the products are here as needed, and then it's up to us to create those additional areas that are available as well," he said. 

 

Mr. Thwaites and Mr. Azan were both guests on the Morning Agenda on Power 106FM.

 

Their comments come in response to Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett's admission during the Standing Finance Committee meeting on March 5 that stronger policies may be necessary to increase the procurement of local goods in the tourism sector.

 

This would be a shift in the government's position of promoting voluntary compliance for the purchasing of local goods.