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• Tourist Enhancement Fund (TEF)

Name of Entity:  Ministry of Tourism/JN Small Business Loan Ltd

Brief description: .

This is a partnership arrangement with the Ministry of Tourism and JN Small Business Loan Limited to assist all MSMEs that are involved in tourism related projects including projects that lend support to the tourism industry where at least 30% of their revenue is earned from the tourism industry, with access to financing with a preferential interest rate.

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The programme offers beneficiaries a maximum loan of JA$5, 000,000.00 at 5% interest per annum.

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Client Relations Manager Jamaica National Small Business Loan Limited Tel 948-7454-5 Address: 32 ½ Duke Street, Kingston

Programme Director Ministry of Tourism 64 Knutsford Boulevard Kingston 5 9204926-30

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• The Tourist Board Act
• Revised Statutes

Statute Details

Preamble : A law to establish a Tourist Board charged with the duty of developing the tourist industry of Jamaica and promoting its efficiency and for purposes incidental to or connected with the foregoing purposes

Long Title :

Short Title : The Tourist Board Act

Operational Date : April 1, 1955

Number : of 1955

Last Amendment : January 1, 2016

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What incentives are available in the tourism sector.

There are three(3) incentive packages available in the tourism sector: They are the:

Hotel incentive: The Hotels Incentives Act provides that a ten (10) year relief from GCT, income tax and import duty is available to:

• New hotels;
• Existing hotels adding a minimum of ten (10) rooms or thirty percent (30%) of the existing number of rooms (whichever is greater);
• Existing hotels that have done or intend to do substantial structural alteration; and
• Approved convention hotels with three hundred and fifty (350) or more bedrooms are entitled to income tax and import duty relief ranging from eleven to fifteen (11-15) years.

Under the Hotels Incentives Act, any company that is recognized as owner, tenant and operator is entitled to benefits.

Resort cottage incentive: Under the Resort Cottages Incentives Act new resort cottages are entitled to seven (7) years relief from income tax.

A resort cottage owner is also entitled to an incentive for the purpose of an extension. The Resort Cottages Incentives Act defines "extension" as an existing group of resort cottages adding a minimum of five (5) rooms or 30% of the original investment, whichever is greater.

Under the Resort Cottages Act, owners, tenants or operators of resort cottages or groups of resort cottages are entitled to benefits.

Attraction Incentive: Cabinet has approved the following for the Attractions Incentive Package. These incentives were made available for the establishment, refurbishment, conservation, reconstruction and repositioning of attractions in the market place and in an effort to stimulate growth in the sub-sector.

• The importation of specific items free of GCT and Custom Duty for five (5) years (utilizing the discretionary authority of the Minister of Finance & The Public Service)
• Five-year exemption from corporate taxes for investors in attractions (utilizing the discretionary authority of the Ministry of Finance & The Public Service)

Prior to the signing off on incentive packages, clearance must be sought from the Ministry of Finance & The Public Service by the Ministry of Tourism.

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Tourism Laws of Jamaica

The Tourist Board Act (PDF)

The Resort Cottages Incentives Act (PDF)

The Hotels Incentives Act (PDF)

GOJ Programmes Supporting the Tourism Sector

With Tourism being the largest income earner for Jamaica, the Government (GOJ) continues to spearhead a number of initiatives to support this booming industry.

The innovation-based tourism incubator was launched in September 2022 with the objective of generating new ideas and providing funding. This programme is being led by the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), as an “all-of-government activity”, with partner, the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service.

This plan was announced in July 2022 and is aimed at improving the resilience of the island’s tourism sector. This strategy has three major components – training, finance and marketing, with an overall objective of building business capacity, increasing access to funding and marketing expertise. Several entities such as TEF, Export-Import Bank of Jamaica (EXIM Bank), Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) and other private organisations have partnered to execute this strategy.

The Government provided a welcome reprieve to workers in the hospitality industry during the pandemic. The COVID-19 Tourism Grant of $1.2 billion is one component of the COVID-19 Allocation of Resources for Employees (CARE) Programme. This grant assisted companies and other associated industries that were affected by the economic fallout from the pandemic. Additionally, several categories of tourism workers who applied for other grants under the CARE Programme, received payments.

Launched in 2018 as a joint initiative between the Ministries of Tourism, and Education and Youth, the Hospitality and Tourism Management Programme (HTMP) facilitates two years of training, free of cost, for students in grades 11, 12 and 13, enabling them to gain entry-level certification for jobs in the industry. So far, some $100 million has been spent under this initiative.

Since its inception in 2005, this initiative, through regional, global, public and private partnership has supported various tourism projects in order to boost the sector. Since 2018, $4.9 billion has been invested in tourism ventures.

The Government, through various partnerships has facilitated the development of roadways, parks and beaches which have made the island more attractive to tourists, therefore increasing arrivals, according to the Ministry of Tourism. For example, Ocho Rios and Montego Bay which were “sleepy fishing villages” 60 years ago, have become significant tourist destinations and major sources of employment and revenue. Additionally, stemming from the major hotel developments of the late 1990s into the 2000s, there are currently more than 35,000 hotels, villas and condominiums, which accommodate visitors from around the world.

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Our General Guidance for COVID-19 Measures and Protocols

For us in Jamaica, as well as for others of the wider Caribbean the recent pandemic has seen several tourism businesses slow to an almost stop. Thanks to the adherence to best health practices however, we’ve largely been able to cope with business operations. Below you will find a link to the most recent COVID-19 information about measures you can take to ensure your safety.

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'Meet TEF obligations first'

Chairman of the Lucea Development Initiative Nerris Hawthorne says that the Government should only take money from the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) after the fund has fulfilled its obligations outlined in the country's Tourism Master Plan.

"The TEF, if it had satisfied the tourism product, and they still had all that money, then yes, use it for something else. But they haven't even half-satisfied the tourism product because when you take some parishes like Hanover and towns like Lucea, that have not benefited yet, it is time for those places to benefit before we say TEF has excess money," Hawthorne said in an interview with Western Focus last week.

DEVELOP PLACES

"It is not that there is excess money. It is that the money is not being spent on the places that need it. Look how many places that are in Hanover to be developed and none of them has been done yet! And I am sure the same goes for other parishes, too. So deal with the tourism product first, and then if they have excess money, take what's left," she added.

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The TEF was established under the Tourism Enhancement Act of 2004, which enabled the Government of Jamaica to legally establish a system to collect a fee from cruise and airline passengers.

The corporate body is mandated to fulfil the primary objectives of the Tourism Enhancement Act, including, among other things, the coordination of Jamaica's Master Plan for Sustainable Tourism Development; the approving and monitoring of the implementation of tourism projects and programmes; collection of the tourism enhancement fee; and collaboration with other agencies to achieve growth and development in heritage, entertainment, culture, the environment, and community-based tourism.

Under the TEF Act, at present, an enhancement fee of US$20, or the Jamaican dollar equivalent, is paid by passengers travelling by air, and US$2 in respect of those travelling by sea, most of whom come to the island on cruise vessels.

Some categories of travellers are exempted from payment of tourism-enhancement fees. These are: children under two years old; persons who enjoy diplomatic immunity or privileges; those travelling by air destined for some other place outside of Jamaica and who are in transit in Jamaica for twenty-four hours or less; and crew members of commercial airlines or ships who are on duty.

• «Negril Chamber raps Gov't for plans to extract TEF funds
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Tourism Minister says Jamaica’s industry almost fully recovered from pandemic

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett, says Jamaica’s tourism industry is almost fully recovered from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bartlett said that the industry continues to show the signs of robust recovery, with the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) reporting that, for the first half of 2022, it had collected $2.42 billion in passenger fees, compared to $2.63 billion collected in 2019 which marked the start of the pandemic.

Bartlett said that the result is that the industry is now experiencing a 90 per cent recovery from the impact of the pandemic, “which had threatened its very survival.”

“Our recovery, in terms of arrivals this year is likely to be well over three million, and we are also expecting our earnings will be just about $100 million, or so, below our best earnings in 2019 of $3.7 billion,” the Minister explained at the Ministry’s mid-year performance review retreat held at the Sandals Royal Plantation in St Ann.

TEF Executive Director, Dr Carey Wallace, said that the Fund had collected and already transferred to the Accountant General some $2.42 billion, which represented a difference of about 19 per cent of the $2.63 billion earned in 2019, the year prior to the start of the pandemic.

“This indicates that we are performing well, and on the road to recovery from the disruptions to the travel industry caused by the pandemic,” Dr Wallace said.

Parliament passed the Tourism Enhancement Act in 2004, providing the legal basis for the Ministry of Tourism to establish a mechanism for the collection of a small fee from incoming airline and cruise passengers. The Act was amended in 2017, and now allows for a Tourism Enhancement Fee of US$20 charged to incoming airline passengers and US$2 for cruise passengers.

In 2017 legislation was passed in the House of Representatives, to allow for the funds from the TEF to be placed in the Budget. TEF facilitates implementation of the Tourism Master Plan.

– Balford Henry

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