TEF accepting applications for 2024 internship programme

The Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) is now accepting applications from young people who are interested in participating in its 2024 Summer Internship Programme, which is designed to provide valuable work experience across various sectors.

The programme, which will span two cycles - June 24 to July 19, and July 29 to August 23, is targeting students in the age group 17 to 25. Interested persons may apply online at www.tef.gov.jm/sip before the May 17 deadline.

The programme, which was established in April 2007, is a significant initiative to provide young people with valuable work experience. It falls under the guidance of the Jamaica Centre for Tourism Innovation and sees the TEF partnering with organisations in all 14 parishes to ensure programme participants gain real-world experience while receiving mentoring from professionals in the field.

Last year, some 14,000 young persons registered using the online portal, of which more than 1,100 were employed in 136 areas across Jamaica. The TEF operates under the Ministry of Tourism.

Montego Bay resident Dawnette Smith, whose son participated in the programme last year described it as a positive innovation.

"It gives students something positive to do during the long summer months, and is perfect for illness," said Smith. "Personally, I wish it was for the full eight weeks of the summer holiday, but it is what it is."

The TEF programmes are designed to lead tourism innovation in the areas of transformational, infrastructural, and sustainable projects, human capital development and tourism linkages through the applied utilisation of research data.