Dear editor,

The recent outbreak at a major Westmoreland hotel has brought into focus issues in the tourism sector that deserve to be part of the national discourse.

We tend to think of these issues as matters for the sector to sort out as it ‘fixes itself’. In reality, however, any deep-seated problem gnawing at the nation’s largest foreign exchange earner and employer ultimately affects us all.

For this reason, our product, the National Tourism Debate, encourages critical thinking among our young people and helps develop their social responsibility by taking a clear view of issues in the tourism sector. This is achieved through the need to consider both sides of an issue in order to make a convincing case for one or the other.

The National Tourism Debate Competition has helped create for the labor market young school leavers with an increased interest and knowledge of the tourism industry. Many of them have joined the sector and will hopefully become industry leaders in the future.

Their ability to appreciate both sides of an issue can lead to the evolution of a management style that delivers to the investor while also protecting the best interest of the worker that produces the dividends.

We hope that industry support for the competition will grow as the wisdom of early awareness becomes more widely appreciated.

Over the 13 years of the competition, our motions have focused on wage issues, the impact of social media, the impact of taxes on demand and the value of the industry to the nation. The level of debate was so frank and direct that concerns were raised in the sector that perhaps those discussions should take place in private.

With our new generation of TikTokers and social media influencers, there is a need for sources of information and guidance that young people can rely on for meaningful discussions, and the debate competition has helped with that. In the search for a sustainable tourism model, we must be prepared to discuss the issues affecting the industry at the community level and in schools. We must learn to disagree, which is a skill we develop in debate.

Our competition allows students to analyze critical issues, and the lack of support from corporate entities is disappointing. As our young people develop confidence, the ability to express themselves persuasively in the classroom, empathy, tolerance and adaptability to opposing viewpoints, they will bring these qualities to their future roles in the world of work.

We ask Jamaicans to support and understand that spending on our youth is not an expense but an investment.

Michelle Tulloch

National Tourism Debate