Golding lobbies for better inclusion of craft vendors in tourism sector

By Lorraine Walker    

 

Opposition Leader Mark Golding says craft vendors should be given an opportunity to contribute to policy decisions in the tourism industry.

 

Among other complaints, craft vendors say they are being shut out of the tourism sector.

 

Mr. Golding, who toured the six craft markets in Ocho Rios, St. Ann on Wednesday, pointed out that in 2017, the Jamaica Labour Party administration discontinued the previously established craft policy and council. He said the absence of the policy has contributed to mounting frustration among craft vendors.

 

"Infrastructure issues, the physical plant, the conditions in which people have to sell are not conducive to a thriving market. You know, there's not wheelchair access, all sorts of problems of that nature; the transfer of businesses from generation to generation, of families that you'd have to call craft families, families that have established themselves in the craft industry. And that should be facilitated, not made difficult," he asserted. 

 

Mr. Golding said craft vendors should be treated as priority participants in the tourism industry.

 

In the meantime, Donovan Richards, a board member of the Ocho Rios Craft Vendors Association, said the vendors feel as if their concerns are being ignored. 

 

"We need help and we need to start somewhere because nobody's hearing our voice, you understand. Whenever we speak, it seems like we're in a country just by ourselves. And we as craft traders, definitely, we're entrepreneurs for this country. Whenever we get the tourist dollars, you know, our dollars go to the length and bredth of this country. We have our bills, we have children, we have families to take care of. You understand? And we can't go on like this. This is like next to nothing. And it wasn't like that. There's so many tourists coming here. The pie can share," he insisted. 

 

Prime Minister Andrew Holness recently announced that the government will waive rental fees for vendors at the craft markets in light of the reduction in calls by cruise vessels since a section of the Ocho Rios Pier was damaged in February.

 

The Port Authority of Jamaica says it is working toward a June 2025 deadline for completion of repairs to the Pier.