WESTERN BUREAU:

For real estate sales to survive the current financial recession, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett has advised realtors to change their marketing strategies and tailor them to suit their clients' needs.

"There is need for a different approach to marketing. Rather than resign ourselves to the bleak marketplace, some marketers have decided to change their tactics," Bartlett said during the opening ceremony of the 62nd annual convention for the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) at The Ritz-Carlton Golf & Spa Resort Hotel in Montego Bay, St James, yesterday.

Speaking to a gathering of mainly international practitioners, he used the opportunity to encourage the realtors to consider Jamaica as a selling point to their clients, especially with the additional room space that will be added over the next five years.

Additional rooms

"Over the next five to 10 years, an additional 5,000 new rooms will be added to Jamaica's accommodation inventory, which will bring the total number of rooms during that period to nearly 40,000 rooms, including the non-traditional leisure resort facilities," he said.

"This represents an opportunity for you to become involved in Jamaica real estate market."

The eight-day convention will seek to provide educational and skills training for both local and international realtors in order to survive and rebound in a volatile housing market which has worsened with the global recession.

Among the keynote activities that will take place over the period of the convention are real estate market survival and prepare-for-recovery classes, sales strategies, social networking and technology-savvy techniques.

NAREB is the oldest minority trade association, established 62 years ago to ensure equal housing opportunities for African-Americans and other affected minority groups. Over the past six decades, the association has played a pivotal role in advocating for housing policies and legislation that make equal, fair and affordable housing available to all Americans regardless of race, colour, creed or country of origin.

sheena.gayle@gleanerjm.com