Time’s up for Tourist Board Act

ST JAMES, Jamaica — Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says Jamaica’s decades-old Tourist Board Act will be repealed and replaced with a new Tourism Authority Act. The change is part of the Government’s push toward “Tourism 3.0” and the country’s post-Hurricane Melissa rebuilding efforts.

Bartlett said the existing legislative framework no longer sufficiently manifests the realities of a modern tourism industry that has since evolved into a ministry-driven sector with multiple agencies and broader national responsibilities.

“Structurally, we began 72 years ago when the legal framework was established around the establishment of the Jamaican Tourist Board,” the minister explained.|
He was delivering the main address during the Tourism Enhancement Fund’s Speed Networking Event 2026 at the Montego Bay Convention Centre on Thursday.

“Since then, we have morphed into a tourism ministry with agencies, but we still have the Tourist Board Act. The first part of reimagining and getting Tourism 3.0 is a repealing of that Act, a revision of that Act, and the creation of a Tourism Authority Act,” he added.

Bartlett said more details will be revealed in the coming months as the legal and technical arrangements of the new framework are fine tuned. He assured that there will be public consultation to guarantee that the legislation is “robust, relevant and appropriate” for the future direction of the sector.

The minister stressed that Tourism 3.0 must move beyond traditional visitor arrivals and hotel expansion to focus heavily on inclusivity, local ownership, and wealth retention within Jamaica. He added that a key objective is to ensure that more Jamaicans directly benefit from tourism by strengthening local manufacturing, agriculture, entertainment, and service industries tied to the sector.

He also spoke about the need to find ways to “insert irrevocably the local talent component capacity in tourism to make it truly inclusive”.

Bartlett insisted that the new policy direction will require legislative reform, regulatory changes, and a restructuring of fiscal arrangements to better support local entrepreneurs and producers.

He said Tourism 3.0 cannot be driven only by the Ministry of Tourism, insisting that success will depend on partnerships across Government ministries. The minister also placed an emphasis on health resilience and security as essential components of Jamaica’s tourism future.

“At every point in time, people must be secure in the view that once you come to Jamaica, you’re going to be safe and secure and your health arrangements are going to be in line,” said Bartlett.

Also, according to the minister, “edu-tourism” and knowledge-based travel experiences will become increasingly important components of Jamaica’s tourism offering as global travel trends continue to evolve.