User:Eddie891/ministry of tourism

Background
Tourism in Jamaica is a major industry.

Before the 1970s, tourism in Jamaica was inconsistently regulated. A Tourist Board Act had been passed in 1955, forming the Jamaica Tourist Board to promote and develop tourism in the nation. Thirteen years later the Hotels (Incentives) Act of 1968 was passed, providing financial incentives to the hotel industry. A similar act was passed in 1971, focusing on cottages.

P. J. Patterson, minister of tourism and industry in the early 1970s highlighted tourism as having "a key role to play in revitalising our economy and stimulating the possibilities of development". The government under Michael Manley initially emphasized increasing tourism as a way to grow the country. At the beginning of the decade, the vast majority of tourists who visited the country originated in the United States and Canada. In 1975, Manley's minister suggested to the Jamaica House of Representatives that tourism be formally regulated with a document titled "Growth Through Integration". The proposal would place a greater emphasis on tourism across Jamaican society. Part of this effort would incorporate Jamaicans further into working in the industry. Tourism declined in the late 1970s as the nation was increasingly unstable and the government purchased numerous hotels that went bankrupt. The Urban Development Corporation, with a subsidiary National Hotels and Properties, owned a majority (around 60%) of first class rooms and seventeen major hotels. In 1980, the Jamaica Labour Party under Edward Seaga took power and substantially revised tourism affairs, creating the first independent Ministry of Tourism under Eric Anthony Abrahams.

Abrahams resigned four years later, and Tourism was folded into the Mining and Energy ministry.

Jamaica Tourism Board
The Jamaica Tourism Board (JTB) is an organization aimed at

Directors of tourism

 * John Pringle (1963-1967)
 * E. Stewart Sharpe (1967-1970)
 * Eric Anthony Abrahams (1970-1975)
 * Adrian Robinson (1975-1978)
 * Desmond Henry (1978-1980)
 * John Gentles (1980-1984)
 * Carrole Guntley (1984 – 1990)
 * Robert Stephens (1990 -1992)
 * Fay Pickersgill (1994 – 2003)
 * Paul Pennicook (2003 – 2006; 2014 – 2017)
 * Basil Smith (2006 – 2008)
 * John Lynch (2008 – 2014)
 * Donovan White (2018-present)
 * https://sflcn.com/jamaica-tourist-board-turns-65-years-old-today/