Mark Titus, Freelance Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

Jamaica has the potential to be a world superpower in tourism, but a more trained labour force is needed to fill the vacancies that will be created by the numerous Spanish investment projects taking place throughout the island.

This is the sentiment of Spanish ambassador to Jamaica, Jesús Silva, who was speaking at Montego Bay Community College's third annual Job Readiness Seminar for final-year students of the hospitality and creative department, held at the Half Moon Hotel on Friday.

"The only region (in the world) that has the basic elements to offer a tourism industry that is reliable is certainly the Caribbean," he said.

"However, Jamaica is at an advantage with your size, (not too big and not too small), the potential labour force and the basic infrastructure, as well as one of the lowest densities of hotels in the Caribbean.

Possibility to expand tourism

"There is the actual possibility to expand the tourist industry and make Jamaica a real superpower in terms of tourism; however, you still need to deal with one of the major challenges, and that is the training of the labour force.

"Tourism is the fastest-growing industry in the 21st century, and is also one of the most labour-intensive sectors by far," he said, " ... And with the Spanish hotels, we will need a lot of labour force and if we don't have it available, it will be too dangerous and we need to take this into account."

With the demand for tourism and hospitality schools increasingly high, Mr. Silva told those in attendance that the Spanish government would be collaborating with their Jamaican counterpart and other stakeholders in the hotel industry to establish a school of tourism in Jamaica.

According to the diplomat - who is also Spain's representative to St.Kitts and Nevis, The Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda and St.Lucia - with the completed projects and those currently under construction slated to be completed by 2009, the Spanish-dominated hotel sector is expected to be the major source of employment within another four years.

Jamaica's development has been vastly improved by Spanish investment, especially in the hospitality sector, with a large number of hotel construction projects being undertaken by Spanish entities.

Spanish hotels

The RIU group currently operates two hotels in Negril and a third in Mammee Bay, St. Ann; Iberostar Hotels and Resorts has begun phase one of its operation at its 950-room family-oriented hotel in Lilliput, St.James; the controversial Baha Prncipe in St. Ann is in full swing; and, the Grand Palladium Hotel popularly known as 'Fiesta' is under construction in Lucea.

However, the proposed construction of a hotel in Falmouth, Trelawny, by the Excellence group is facing opposition from environment advocacy groups. Other Spanish chains have also expressed interest in the island.

With the proliferation of Spanish hotel chains inthe island, there is a growing demand for personnel of all categories who speak Spanish and other languages. This, the ambassador pointed out, is cause for concern.

More than 60 students who have been trained in hospitality and tourism management over a three-year period attended the event, which is geared towards sensitising the young professionals to the expectations of the industry.

Montego Bay Community College, the only multidisciplinary public tertiary institution in western Jamaica, has been ably addressing the educational needs of thousands.

The college partners with the University of the West Indies and the University of Technology to offer diploma courses in engineering; a pre-engineering certificate; a hotel and tourism management course; the preliminary science programme, as well as bachelor's degrees in numerous fields - hospitality, entertainment and tourism management, information systems and business studies.