Bélisle, F.J.

Food Production and Tourism in Jamaica: Obstacles to Increasing Local Food Supplies to Hotels.

Abstract : Although it would seem natural for hotels in Jamaica to use a greater proportion of local food than at present, the expansion of domestic food production and processing and the development of closer links with tourism are hampered by numerous obstacles, which are reviewed. As a result of these obstacles, the contribution of food production to the GDP is small, and large amounts of food are imported to feed residents as well as tourists. To help increase domestic food production, the Jamaican government should pursue more equitable landownership, provide more low-interest credit and sound technical advice, and improve crop forecasting, storage capacity and marketing. In addition to efforts to increase domestic food production, a number of ways are suggested to strengthen the linkages between food production and tourist food consumption and to reduce foreign exchange leakages. It is an explicit objective of development plans in Jamaica to accelerate import substitution in order to increase the local content of the tourist industry and hence to retain a greater share of visitor expenditure.

Date
1984
Data type
Scientific article
Theme
Research and monitoring