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Minister Hylton applauds JAMPRO’s collaboration with the JHTA & JTB for JAPEX 2012

Ocho Rios, Jamaica – Jamaica’s Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Anthony Hylton has applauded the collaborative work being done by the Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO), the Jamaica Hotel and Tourism Association (JHTA) and the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) to stage the Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX), the country’s premier annual tourism trade show being held at the Sunset Jamaica Grande in Ocho Rios from September 30th – October 2nd.

JAMPRO introduced a Business Linkages Programme at JAPEX last year, which matches and connects local producers of a range of goods and services to buyers and purchasing managers in the hotel sector. At the Opening of JAPEX on Sunday, September 29 by the poolside of the Jamaica Grande, Minister Hylton expressed his pleasure with the results of the partnership so far: “Last year, this collaboration was an experiment and a courtship that went extraordinarily well; this year, we have consummated the union with the hopeful expectation of a marriage for life.”

JAMPRO will be seeking to exceed the over J$100 million in contracts, which it facilitated for mainly small and medium sized companies participating at last year’s show at the Montego Bay Convention Centre. At this year’s show, JAMPRO has brought some 36 quality local suppliers to the JAPEX floor to showcase their goods and services, and to negotiate business deals with over 100 expected buyers from the tourism and hospitality sector. Suppliers this year range from goods and services including meats, beverages, baked goods, chemicals, cosmetics, sauces and spices, fresh produce, furniture and other manufacturing, gift and craft, uniforms, apparel, ICT and related services.

He added, “It makes eminent sense to have combined the efforts of these three important national institutions, to not only evolve this signature trade event to increase business for all our properties and attractions, but also to create meaningful business linkages for local suppliers of quality goods and services to the hospitality trade.” According to Minister Hylton the cultivation of strong, lasting business linkages through JAMPRO’s facilitation services is now firmly entrenched in JAPEX’s development agenda. “This for me represents real development. It demonstrates the tangible outcomes we can achieve as a country when we choose to collaborate,” he noted.

JAPEX is billed as the single most important business generator for Jamaica’s tourism industry and the JHTA estimates that over 800 travel agents and tour operators are present to do business with the leaders and players in the Jamaican hospitality and accommodations sector.

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