JUTA urges freeze on new tourism transport licences

Western Bureau:

JUTA Montego Bay is calling for an immediate freeze on new tourism ground transportation licences and related work permits, warning that Jamaican-owned operators are being squeezed out of an increasingly competitive tourism transportation market.

The association, headed by President Simon Lawrence, has asked the Ministry of Tourism to suspend new licences until a carrying-capacity study determines how many operators and vehicles Jamaica’s major tourism areas can reasonably support.

The organisation also wants a temporary halt on new work permits for ground transportation and related tourism services while qualified Jamaicans and displaced local operators seek opportunities.

The demands form part of a September 12 submission to the ministry, which JUTA made public this week as it called for urgent intervention on behalf of independent operators, including JUTA, JCAL, MAXI and other Jamaican-owned transportation providers.

JUTA said local operators continue to struggle with the financial fallout from COVID-19 and hurricanes Beryl and Melissa, compounded by high fuel, insurance, maintenance and financing costs.

However, the association’s concerns go beyond operating expenses. It argues that increasing control of transportation, tours and excursions by foreign-owned hotels and tour companies is reducing the amount of business available to Jamaican operators.

JUTA also raised concerns about pricing and packaged-service arrangements that smaller operators find difficult to match, as well as tourism services being paid for overseas, limiting the amount of visitor spending retained in Jamaica.

The association warned that greater concentration of the market could ultimately reduce Jamaican ownership and competition in tourism transportation.

Access to hotels has become an increasingly contentious issue among transportation operators.

JUTA wants measures to ensure Jamaican operators have fair access to tourism business, including hotel parking privileges, as part of a wider effort to protect local participation in the industry.

The concerns echo those raised recently by JCAL Tours President Adrian Muirhead, who said Jamaican operators were facing increasing costs to operate from some hotels while competing for business at hotels, airports and cruise ports.

JUTA is also seeking a review of tax concessions to determine whether benefits intended for Jamaican businesses are reaching genuinely Jamaican-owned companies and small operators.

It wants the Government to investigate pricing, exclusive agreements and other arrangements that could affect competition.

The association’s call for intervention revisits an issue that has confronted the tourism industry before.

In 2018, a Tourism Working Group established by the Ministry of Tourism recommended suspending the issuance of new domestic tour-operator and attraction licences while it examined concerns affecting local suppliers. Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett said at the time that there had to be balance and equity between local and foreign investors.

The Government’s current fiscal-incentive regime includes concessions for tourism ground transportation, including contract carriage and tour operators.

Over the longer term, JUTA wants financing, duty relief and insurance assistance for affected Jamaican operators, along with greater access to direct contracts.

It is also proposing training to help traditional transportation operators compete in an increasingly digital tourism marketplace.

The association wants annual monitoring of the sector to determine whether Jamaican businesses are receiving fair opportunities and whether tourism earnings are being retained in the local economy.

JUTA has requested a meeting with the Ministry of Tourism, the Office of the Prime Minister and other relevant agencies to discuss its proposals.

The association said tourism transportation remains critical to moving visitors among airports, hotels, attractions and communities and provides income for Jamaican drivers, operators, employees and their families.

The Ministry of Tourism has previously acknowledged market-access challenges in ground transportation. Jamaica’s tourism master plan identified low operator incomes, multiple intermediaries and access to visitor business among longstanding issues affecting the subsector.

The renewed appeal comes just over a year after Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, while campaigning ahead of the September 2025 General Election, pledged to tackle the controversial practice of ground transportation operators paying for parking access at hotels.

Speaking at a Jamaica Labour Party rally in Sam Sharpe Square, Montego Bay, in August 2025, Bartlett described the practice as “an abomination” and promised that it would be addressed under a new administration.

“This business of buying parking is an abomination, and we are going to stop it in the new administration,” Bartlett said at the time.

Operators had complained that some were paying as much as US$3,000 per week for parking at hotels.

The issue had also reached Bartlett months earlier. In April 2025, tourism ground transportation representatives met with the tourism minister and then Minister of State Delano Seiveright, raising concerns about high hotel parking costs, competition from ride-share services and unlicensed operators.

JUTA’s latest submission again puts the issue squarely before the Government.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com