Jamaica’s Ministry of Tourism says it will look to the Chinese market as it seeks to boost earnings in its cruise ship sector by 2021.

This was the message delivered by Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett following his recent tour of Falmouth development projects.

“In September I am going to China, and we are going to talk about the possibility of having Chinese cruise emanating from within our area and going into the rest of the Caribbean,” Bartlett said. “That would enable us to look at other ports.”

Bartlett said that government is projecting $5 billion in earnings from five million cruise ship passengers stopping over by 2021, and noted that Falmouth Pier has been earmarked as a centerpiece for this growth.

“We want to see Falmouth grow to 1.5 million visitors over that period of time, because it has the capacity,” he said.

The projected growth is expected to directly yield 120,000 more jobs, as well as another 300,000 indirectly.

During his tour, the Minister visited the Pier, Tharp House, the site for the Artisan Village at Hampden Wharf, the transportation center, the new market, Market and Harbour Streets, as well as the completed Post Office in the town.

He said the tour was aimed at catalyzing the necessary buy-in from local stakeholders, including the residents, police and leaders of the public and private sectors.

“They must begin to understand that the development of Falmouth is for them, not for some other people. That the value of the experience is for the visitor, but the returns from the experience, the dollar return, is for the people,” he said.