US$500 Roundtrip Germany Airfare - New Nonstop Flights Start July 18

Berlin, Germany – March 8, 2018: As Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett’s aggressive European Tourism growth strategy continues to take root, he today confirmed with Eurowings officials that once weekly scheduled nonstop flights between the German city of Munich and Montego Bay, Jamaica will commence on July 18 of this year.

The airline is already aggressively promoting on its website www.eurowings.com fares of between US$500 and US$1,000 for a roundtrip ticket between Germany and Jamaica. Fares are open to everyone including Jamaicans wanting to travel to Europe.

“Munich is one of the largest and wealthiest cities in Europe and capital of the German state of Bavaria, base for some of the biggest companies in the world including BMW, Audi, Puma and Adidas. The state has a population of 13 million and Munich Airport is one of Europe’s busiest hubs with many from neighbouring countries like Switzerland, Austria, Italy and the Czech Republic connecting through there. It is a very important development for Jamaica.” – Bartlett said.

Bartlett is in Berlin, Germany for the ITB global tourism tradeshow, the largest of its kind in the world, attracting around 109,000 visitors and 10,000 exhibitors to trade stands, talks and workshops. He is joined by Director of Tourism, Donovan White; Senior Advisor/ Strategist, Delano Seiveright and European based JTB officials.  

Seiveright noted that, “Jamaica recorded a roughly 44 percent growth in German stopover visitors for 2017 over the previous year, moving from 20,768 to 29,858. Bartlett early last year as part of the European tourism growth plan is pushing for 50,000 German tourists per annum within the next 2 to 3 years. He added that Jamaica received in 2017 a record 325,804 European tourists approximately 31,000 more than the previous year.”

The news comes on the heels of Minister Bartlett’s announcement two days before from Milan, Italy, that that nation’s largest tour operator, Alpitour, owner of leisure airline Neos, is to increase the number of seats into Montego Bay, Jamaica from Italy using a new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft starting May of this year. Laurent Parent, a Senior Executive for Alpitour World confirmed with Bartlett and his team that it will also continue its once weekly flight between the Italian city of Verona and Montego Bay and noted increasing demand for Montego Bay as a vacation spot.

In addition to meeting with travel industry stakeholders in Italy, Bartlett  and his team also met with Campari Group Chairman and Italian Billionaire, Luca Garavoglia, at the multinational giant’s Milan, Italy headquarters as he seeks to develop an innovative marketing and collaborative partnership with the corporate giant that spent over US$500 million in the purchase of J. Wray and Nephew and other investments including US$7.2 million in the Joy Spence Appleton Estate Rum Experience in St. Elizabeth.

In the meantime, Jamaica continues to benefit from two scheduled weekly flights by Eurowings between the German city of Cologne/Bonn and Montego Bay. The additional flight between Munich and Montego Bay will rise to three nonstop flights per week between Germany and Jamaica by Eurowings. Montego Bay also benefits from roughly three weekly charter flights between the German cities of Frankfurt and Munich and Montego Bay by German leisure airline Condor.   

In its promotional literature to German and other Europeans about Montego Bay, Eurowings noted that “Montego Bay (MBJ) offers not only beautiful sand beaches along a golden coast, but also a wealth of lodging, bars, restaurants and shops for every taste. You'll also find sophisticated marinas and world-class golf courses."