The Tourism ministry is to raid the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) for approximately $900 million to top up its budget for overseas marketing.

This comes on the heels of a government decision earlier this year to pull $1 billion from the TEF for infrastructure development in squatter settlements in two of the country's largest resort towns.

The latest move to target the TEF comes in the wake of a decision by the finance ministry to cut more than 13 per cent off money allocated to advertise Jamaica internationally.

In the Estimates of Expenditure, tabled in April, $796 million had been allocated to the tourism ministry for overseas marketing. This was cut by $106 million in the Supplementary Estimates tabled last week.

The budget cut sparked concerns on the opposition benches during yesterday's sitting of the Standing Finance Committee of Parliament.

Back on track

"(Tourism) is one of the areas where we have an opportunity, after this (economic) crisis has passed, to get back on track quickly, but when we are cutting our marketing budget, how are we going to move forward?" asked Dr Wykeham McNeill, opposition spokesman on tourism.

However, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett was quick to point to the cash-rich TEF as one of the areas which would make up the shortfall.

Bartlett said the tourism ministry would be using a combination of strategies to ensure that Jamaica remains visible in the marketplace.

"One is more efficient operation in general, better buying in the marketplace, the utilisation of partnerships ... and financing from external sources," he said.

Bartlett later disclosed that the external source was the TEF but said the $900 million to be extracted would not leave the fund dry.

He said that when he took office in 2007, the TEF had $2.2 billion and was in an even better position now.

"The balance (in the TEF) at this moment is $3.3 billion but in the process, we brought in pretty close to $4.4 billion in the two years of JLP government," added Bartlett.

Promoting growth

( l - r ) McNeill, Bartlett

The mandate of the TEF involves promoting growth and development in the tourism sector, encouraging better man-agement of environmental resources in the island, enhancing the overall tourist experience and providing for the sustainable development of the tourism sector.

The TEF was created out of the 2004 Tourism Enhancement Act, which provides the basis for the collection of a small fee from incoming airline and cruise passengers.

That money is to be placed in a dedicated fund to be used for the sole purpose of implementing the recommendations emanating from the 2002 Master Plan for Sustainable Tourism Development.

- Arthur Hall.