TEF backs 15 new tourism innovators

The Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) has selected 15 Jamaican entrepreneurs for the third cohort of its Tourism Innovation Incubator, as it seeks to broaden participation in the multibillion-dollar tourism industry.

The 10 men and five women were formally introduced at a meet and greet at the Audi Showroom in Kingston on Wednesday.

They were selected from 218 applicants following an assessment process conducted by the TEF and its business service intermediary, the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech).

The entrepreneurs will participate in an approximately seven-month programme covering capacity building, business development, market validation and investment readiness.

For the first time, the programme will also include AI-powered prototype development.

TEF Executive Director Dr Carey Wallace said the breadth of the tourism industry presented numerous opportunities for innovation.

“Tourism has a wide variety of sub-industries, meaning there are innovation opportunities right along the length and breadth of tourism, even before the visitor gets here. So, it opens up many doors for our incubatees,” he said.

Wallace described the incubator as an important component of the Ministry of Tourism’s transformation agenda.

“We sincerely want to see billionaires coming out of this programme,” he said.

CHANCE FOR OPPORTUNITY

UTech President Dr Kevin Brown said the partnership was intended to help Jamaicans explore opportunities beyond the traditional tourism model, which is often dominated by large hotels.

“Many of you may be concerned about the strong presence of all-inclusive hotels, and what we are trying to do here is to allow Jamaicans who have other innovative ideas to explore the tourism space and to give them support to build their capacity to do other things in tourism,” Brown said.

“In this technological world and digital space, now is the time and opportunity for young Jamaicans to capitalise on this billion-dollar industry.”

TEF and UTech signed the business service intermediary agreement on August 18. Under the arrangement, UTech will provide training, mentorship, prototype development, financial literacy and business-development support to the entrepreneurs.

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, whose remarks were delivered by Wallace, challenged the new cohort to build on local knowledge, design for underserved travellers, focus on execution and embrace technology without sacrificing the Jamaican character of the visitor experience.

“Artificial intelligence can process a booking, analyse data and recommend an experience, but it cannot replicate the warmth, humour and humanity of the Jamaican people,” Bartlett said.

The 15 businesses are focused on areas including immersive tourism experiences, destination discovery and access, tourism intelligence and artificial intelligence, mobility and transportation, market access, digital commerce and financial inclusion.

Accessibility, sustainability and community tourism are also key themes across the cohort.

Since its inception, the Tourism Innovation Incubator has accepted 35 businesses, with about 29 completing the programme. Three participants have collectively secured approximately $40 million in financing from the Development Bank of Jamaica.

The first cohort’s winner, Caribbean Front Desk, has since launched a health-and-wellness tourism platform and, in 2025, a $43.4-million wellness tourism cluster project.

For the third cohort, TEF is placing greater emphasis on developing the wider entrepreneurial ecosystem through a structured alumni programme, stronger pathways to capital readiness and partnerships that will allow participants to test their solutions in real tourism environments.