Prime Minister Andrew Holness outlined that Delano Seiveright will be assigned with specific responsibilities for linkages between tourism and the general economy as he’s appointed to serve as Minister of State in the Ministry of Tourism.

Seiveright has served as Senior Advisor and Strategist to the Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, and has extensive experience in governance, tourism development, corporate communications, and stakeholder engagement.

Holness said that this promotion will allow him to continue to contribute significantly to the growth agenda of Jamaica.

“Tourism is a critical plank of the Jamaican economy. It serves us well in employment, foreign exchange, and consuming products from the economy. However, I think we can all agree that there is much more to be derived from tourism, and we want to ensure that the local economy, the average benefits from the incredible natural renewable asset,” said Holness who was speaking at the swearing-in ceremony on Monday of Seiveright and Audrey Marks as government ministers.

The prime minister said that tourism can play a tremendous role in other sectors and industries, thus contributing to more economic growth. “So whether it is in agriculture, through greater consumption of our agricultural output and greater security through long-term supply contracts, whether it is in housing and ensuring that we have housing for tourism workers, whether it is in healthcare by the development of health tourism, improvement of our hospitals in tourism areas, whether it is in education, entertainment, whichever area it is, tourism can play a critical part in the development of those areas in our economy,” he continued.

Holness also expressed his delight to see Seiveright offering himself for public service. “Public service is not easy… they don’t know the struggles that you go behind every day to come and stand on the platform and all the challenges, all the issues you have to address.”

However, he noted that the government does not miss a beat. Therefore, whatever challenges there may be, his administration will show up.

“Whether it is a pandemic or a hurricane, some other form of exogenous shocks, there has never been a time where there is a break in our government. We are always at the wheel steering the country, and whatever point in time in the cycle you may think it is, we don’t stop government; for that we continue our plans, and we follow through right to the very end because that is the essence of government. It is the ubiquitous, universal, and continuing force for the governance and upliftment of the people, and that is how we have conducted our administration,” Holness added.