Jamaica’s Tourism Workers’ Pension Scheme hailed as model for industry
Key Points(5)
- Jamaica’s Tourism Workers’ Pension Scheme is attracting international attention, with UN Tourism officials describing the country’s model for providing social protection to tourism workers as one that could be replicated elsewhere.
- Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett said Tuesday that the recognition came during meetings with UN Tourism officials while he was visiting Saudi Arabia.
- The recognition comes as the Tourism Workers’ Pension Scheme has accumulated more than $6 billion in savings from over 10,800 registered workers.
- Bartlett said the program was established to address the financial insecurity that many tourism workers face after spending years in the industry without adequate retirement protection.
- “Tourism workers needed this social safety net because they work, they slave, they give of their lives, and at the end of the day, they end up in penury in a lot of instances,” Bartlett said.
Jamaica’s Tourism Workers’ Pension Scheme is attracting international attention, with UN Tourism officials describing the country’s model for providing social protection to tourism workers as one that could be replicated elsewhere.
Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett said Tuesday that the recognition came during meetings with UN Tourism officials while he was visiting Saudi Arabia.
Speaking virtually during the Jamaica Product Exchange, or JAPEX, media breakfast at Moon Palace Jamaica in Ocho Rios, Bartlett described the development as “a very exciting moment” for Jamaica and called the pension scheme a “revolutionary activity.”
According to Bartlett, UN Tourism officials highlighted Jamaica’s approach to providing retirement security for tourism workers as a model that could be incorporated more widely into the global tourism industry.
The recognition comes as the Tourism Workers’ Pension Scheme has accumulated more than $6 billion in savings from over 10,800 registered workers.
Bartlett said the program was established to address the financial insecurity that many tourism workers face after spending years in the industry without adequate retirement protection.
“Tourism workers needed this social safety net because they work, they slave, they give of their lives, and at the end of the day, they end up in penury in a lot of instances,” Bartlett said.
“We had to change that picture, and this program and this policy will change that whole scenario,” he added.
The Tourism Workers’ Pension Scheme took effect on Jan. 31, 2020, and is designed to eventually benefit an estimated 350,000 workers across Jamaica’s tourism sector.
The scheme covers tourism workers between the ages of 18 and 59, regardless of whether they are permanently employed, working under contract or self-employed.
Eligible participants include hotel employees as well as workers in tourism-related areas such as craft vending, tour operations, red-cap portering, contract carriage and attractions. Pension benefits are payable at age 65 or older.
Bartlett said the international attention was particularly significant because the pension scheme was developed in Jamaica as a response to the need for stronger social protection for workers who have helped build the country’s tourism industry.
