MONTEGO BAY, St. James, March 27, 2014: The Agro-Tourism Farmers’ Market, an effort initiated by the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment to create sustainable linkages between the tourism industry and other sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and entertainment has been eagerly welcomed by stakeholders in St. James.

Spearheaded by the ministry’s Tourism Linkages Hub, in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, through the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) the event had its first staging yesterday, March 26, in the parking lot of the Catherine Hall Mini Stadium, Montego Bay. Other partners include the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), the Jamaica Business Development Corporation (JBDC) to name a few.

The St. James Agro-Tourism Farmers’, was welcomed by the community and received endorsement from the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the St. James Parish Council, the Culinary Federation, and the HEART Trust NTA.

President of the St. James Branch Societies of the Jamaica Agricultural Society and Mayor of Montego Bay, His Worship Councillor Glendon Harris, welcomed the initiative, saying it opens windows of opportunity for farmers and allows tourism industry players to see that the farmers are able to supply them with much of the produce they need to feed their guests.

Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce, Gloria Henry, who oversees the agro-industry portfolio, also expressed pleasure in having an agro-tourism farmers’ market in St. James. She sees it as “an excellent merging of the sectors,” as she underscored that the “agro-industry and tourism should be working much closer together than they do now.” Ms. Henry is confident the sectors can benefit from each other.

Hotel proprietor and restaurateur, Evelyn Dayes said, “it is a great idea” and urged more entities to  support the initiative.  

Vendors at the Agro-Tourism Farmers’ Market travelled from as far afield as St. Elizabeth with condiments, fruits, vegetables and other ground provision. There were also wellness products, floral and citrus potted plants, basketry, leather craft and works of art on sale.

The Jamaica Culinary Federation, RADA and Kenilworth HEART Academy demonstrated the use of local products in delightful Jamaican cuisine and treated patrons to tasty samples.

The Agro-Tourism Farmers’ Market initiative was started in Negril in October 2013 and will see the hosting of similar markets in Ocho Rios and other resort areas.

Kingston, Jamaica: March 26, 2014: Jamaica’s push to develop health and wellness tourism has received another major boost with the opening of the Eden Gardens Wellness Resort and Spa in Kingston. The facility was officially opened by Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson-Miller yesterday, March 25, 2014. The 18-room property boasts the first Semi-Contempo Spa in Jamaica, a fitness centre, chiropractic centre and offers Chinese acupuncture services.

Minister of Tourism and Entertainment, the Hon. Dr. Wykeham McNeill joined Prime Minister Simpson-Miller in welcoming the investment, citing that the property will help to further boost health and wellness tourism.

Prime Minister Simpson-Miller said “we see the private sector as our partners in development. That is why we hail this $550 million dollar investment represented in Eden Gardens Wellness Resort and Spa. And I am happy to note that employment has moved from eight staff when it opened three years ago to 95 today.”

The Prime Minister also underscored that Jamaica has the attributes to succeed in health and wellness tourism. “We have a well-developed medical infrastructure, world-renowned cadre of nurses and doctors and have demonstrated expertise in medicine. There is no reason why Jamaica cannot attract significant investments and tourist  flow in this area,” said the Prime Minister.

Minister McNeill said, “The Eden Gardens Wellness Resort and Spa fits perfectly into the Ministry’s strategy to reposition Kingston as a vibrant metropolitan tourist city, and also, our resolve to establish a firm foothold in the health and wellness sector of the world tourism market.”

Dr. McNeill also expressed that the continued development and diversification of the tourism product remains a major priority, which is guided by the Master Plan for Sustainable Tourism Development. It was noted that a strategy has also been conceived to position new medical facilities that would meet international accreditation and thereby compete globally to take advantage of Jamaica’s proximity to the North American market. 

The Minister outlined that “critical to this process is the development of health and wellness tourism. The opening of this facility, together with the recent press launch of the Hospiten hospital in Montego Bay and other projects which are being brought on-stream, reinforce the policy and strategy that has been drafted and further signals that we are making significant progress.”

Kingston, Jamaica: March 24, 2014 –   As part of an ongoing partnership with the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) to foster better disaster risk management in the tourism sector, the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment will host the latest in a series of Tourism Emergency Management Committee (TEMC) meetings on Thursday, March 27, 2014. The meeting will be held at the Knutsford Court Hotel, New Kingston and will begin at 10:00 a.m.

Tourism based private and public sector stakeholders across the various subsectors (accommodation, attractions, craft, shopping and transportation) are set to participate in the TEMC meeting, which will focus on Jamaica’s vulnerability to earthquakes, readiness for earthquakes and requirements for executing an Earthquake Simulation. The meeting is intended to equip participants to better prepare for, mitigate, respond to and recover from such natural and man-made hazards and threats which affect the local tourism industry.

In highlighting the importance of the initiative Minister of Tourism and Entertainment, the Hon. Dr. Wykeham McNeill emphasized that “natural disasters can have a tremendous impact on the travel trade and tourism-dependent economies like Jamaica, not only because of their negative impact on visitor numbers but also because of the harmful effect they have on our infrastructure and nearly every sector in the country, including the entire supply chain.”

“It is therefore crucial that we have meetings like these to ensure we have systems in place to reduce the impact of disasters such as earthquakes,” he stressed.

The main goal of the TEMC is to build the tourism sector’s resilience to multiple hazards and to identify and address the areas in which the sector is vulnerable. The Ministry currently has an emergency management framework in place that is linked to the national mechanism for the management of emergencies and disasters, which is coordinated by ODPEM.

The Ministry in turn operates the Tourism Emergency Operations Centre (TEOC) to facilitate a coordinated response to disasters for the sector. One of the main roles of the TEOC is that of liaising with ODPEM and assisting in the coordination of assistance to tourism entities as well as visitors in need of special attention or emergency care. The TEOC also sends regular updates, alerts, and emergency bulletins directly to tourism stakeholders.

Kingston, Jamaica: March 20, 2014 –   Against the background of dramatic currency fluctuations in Russia, their impact on airline operations and recent political developments, Transaero Airlines has announced a suspension of service between Moscow and Montego Bay for the summer.

The airline initiated the service in the winter of 2012/13. It proved successful and enjoyed good consumer response, sufficient to enable the airline to maintain the service through the entire year. However, Transaero has indicated it is not confident in its ability to maintain the same level of service this year.

Jamaica is one of the Caribbean destinations to which service will be affected and Transaero will suspend service to Jamaica on March 28, 2014 and is expected to resume service in November, 2014.

A year ago, the Russian ruble’s rate of exchange with the US dollar was 30 to 1; today it is 50 to 1. The company has outlined that this dramatic shift in the value of the ruble has impacted the cost of operating the service. As the Russian winter comes to an end, a decline in demand for travel to warm weather destinations informed Transaero’s decision.

In light of this development, the Jamaica Tourist Board’s (JTB) Regional Director in Europe has been dispatched to Moscow to keep in touch with the market and to protect the gains we have made there.

An announcement made today by British Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, of changes to the Air Passenger Duty (APD) that will prove favourable to Jamaica and the Caribbean has been welcomed by Tourism and Entertainment Minister, the Hon. Dr. Wykeham McNeill.

The changes will come into effect in April 2015 and will see the axing of APD bands C and D for flights of more than 4,000 miles. All long-haul flights will now carry the same, lower, band B tax rate, meaning persons travelling to the Caribbean will pay the same as if they were travelling to the United States.

“This is a major victory for the Caribbean community, which has been intensely lobbying for several years against the UK’s unfair APD band system which makes it costlier to fly to the Caribbean than to rival destinations like Hawaii in the United States, giving them a competitive advantage,” said Minister McNeill. “The unrelenting efforts of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), Ministers of Tourism across the region, the Caribbean Diaspora in the UK, the World Tourism Organization (WTO), the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and other tourism partners, have paid off," the Minister added.

He also joined the CTO in welcoming the acceptance of the recommendation made by the Caribbean. "We welcome the announcement and are heartened at the fact that the Caribbean's recommendation for the use of a two band system has now been accepted," the Minister expressed.

The CTO in welcoming the announcement added that “effective April 2015, the APD will be simplified into a two band system: band A for short haul flights of less than 2000 miles from London and band B for all long haul flights more than 2000 miles from London. The new band B will be charged at the planned rate in 2015-16 (£71 for reduced rate passengers and £142 for standard rate passengers).” 

Britain introduced the controversial travel tax in 1994. The APD was increased regularly, making billions in revenues for the UK government but increasing the price to travel from the UK to regions such as the Caribbean. In addition to adversely affecting tourism-dependent economies like the Caribbean, a 2012 study by the WTTC revealed that removing the APD would result in the creation of an additional 91,000 British jobs and £4.2 billion being added to that economy in 12 months.

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica, March 16, 2014: Jamaica’s drive to develop health tourism has taken a giant step forward with an announcement that by the second half of 2015, the Hospiten Group will have a 22-room state-of-the art general hospital in operation at Cinnamon Hill in Rose Hall, St. James.

The US$20 million investment will provide medical-hospital services for western Jamaica and the north coast, from Negril to Ocho Rios, and while targeting the tourism market, will also serve Jamaicans. The full-service facility will be equipped with an Image Diagnosis Centre, a Surgical Block, an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), a Clinical Analysis Lab, and a 24 hour Emergency Room.

Minister of Tourism and Entertainment, the Hon. Dr. Wykeham McNeill joined Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson-Miller in welcoming the Hospiten Group’s investment at a press launch at the Montego Bay Convention Centre recently.

Prime Minister Simpson-Miller sees the hospital playing a major role in fostering health tourism.

The Prime Minister said she was pleased that this facility would be the first of its kind in the English-speaking Caribbean adding that, “this investment represents a tangible outcome of Jamaica’s Master Plan for Sustainable Tourism Development and the work of successive governments.”

 “It’s a giant step forward in terms of health tourism. We’ve had lot of discussion over the years about health tourism and there have been small incursions but here we have a US$20 million investment in health tourism which will benefit Jamaicans and visitors alike,” said Minister McNeill.

He added that while there are other facilities in the island, “this one caters directly to a certain niche market and what you will find happening is that for investors who are bringing visitors here, it gives them a sense of comfort and promotes even more investment.”

Dr. McNeill said his ministry was also promoting investment in other areas of health and wellness tourism such as retirement villages, convalescent homes and “persons who want that sort of investment are going to want to have that kind of care available for their families.” He noted therefore, that the Hospiten hospital “brings that other dimension to our tourism sector so it really is a huge leap for health tourism.”

President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association, JHTA, Evelyn Smith also said the sector welcomed the hospital as a boost to health tourism. “It’s a great investment in tourism and it answers the call for a service that is so needed within the industry right now, so obviously the membership welcomes it,” she said.

During construction the project will provide 300 jobs and a similar number when in operation, according to Hospiten's Chairman, Dr. Pedro Luis Cobiella. It was noted that the Hospiten Group is an international network of private hospitals which is dedicated to providing high level healthcare services. The Chairman said the Group's maxim was to achieve excellence in the services provided, "both in medicine and in patient care, the result of which is that all our hospitals have obtained international recognition for quality and excellence in services and management".

An important part of that achievement, he noted, lies in understanding, respecting and adapting to the environment, "to the different cultures of the places we settle in". The three-storey hospital will be constructed on land that the company acquired at Red Girl in Cinnamon Hill in 2008.

Minister of Tourism and Entertainment, the Hon. Dr. Wykeham McNeill, left the island yesterday (March 3) to attend the world’s leading international travel trade show, ITB Berlin, which will be held in Berlin, Germany from Wednesday, March 5 to Sunday, March 9, 2014.

ITB Berlin, considered to be the largest tourism trade show in the world, is the leading business to business platform for tourism industry partners.  Hotel chain CEOs, hotel owners, investors, representatives of various tourist boards, tour operators, airline executives, government officials, investors  and other travel industry stakeholders will meet to network, debate, explore investment opportunities, and forecast the direction of the tourism industry.
 

At the tradeshow, leading speakers from the tourism industry and other sectors will also examine the latest trends and discuss various topics, which include: Luxury Markets - Trends and Best Practices; and Intercultural Management of Expectations for Business Travelers and Expats.
 

Minister McNeill returns to the island on Friday, March 7, 2014.

Montego Bay, Jamaica, March 1, 2014: Creative arts in the second city will get a major boost by mid-year when the Montego Bay Civic Centre is converted into a major cultural centre that will also serve as the nation's second art gallery.

Hotelier Josef Forstmayr heads the Montego Bay Arts Council which is charged with overseeing the overall development of the civic centre into the Montego Bay Cultural Centre housing a permanent art gallery under the auspices of the Institute of Jamaica and the National Heritage Trust.

The facility will also house a bistro at which only top of the line Jamaican products will be sold.

Conversion of the civic centre is proceeding apace under the supervision of Project Co-ordinator Millard Wright who informed Tourism and Entertainment Minister, the Hon. Dr. Wykeham McNeill, during a tour on Thursday that it work should be completed in another two months.

The project is being funded by the Tourism Enhancement Fund to the tune of $42 million.

Welcoming the development, Member of Parliament for Central St. James, Lloyd B. Smith, said “downtown Montego Bay will take on a special look when that particular project is completed and we are most grateful to the TEF.”

During a stop at the Montego Bay Crafts Village, Minister McNeill and his touring party were entertained by cultural artiste “Upside Down” who performed a variety of acts, including dancing on broken bottles and fire dancing.

Cabinet has approved the contract for $44 million upgrading of the market starting in three weeks, financed by the TEF and Minister McNeill told the craft traders that they would have to start doing things differently and more professionally. He said a new craft policy was being developed in consultation with the traders “to deal with how this industry is going to be governed” and a regulatory authority is to be put in place.

Also visited on the tour was the restoration of historical monument, The Dome, at Jackson Town which marks the site of Montego Bay’s first domestic water supply. While the $8 million is nearing completion, Minister McNeill said additional work would be done to landscape the surrounding environment.

Montego Bay, Jamaica, February 28, 2014: The Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment is pumping millions of dollars from the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) into upgrading the resort towns of Montego Bay and Falmouth.

The projects are being monitored by the Montego Bay Resort Board and yesterday, Minister of Tourism and Entertainment, the Hon. Dr. Wykeham McNeill, accompanied by State Minister for Transport and Works, the Hon.  Richard Azan, received an update on work being done and future plans at a specially convened meeting of the Resort Board at the Sunset Beach Resort and Spa.

Minister McNeill stressed that the collaboration and work being done were against the background of the reality that “to be competitive we have to be constantly upgrading that product.” He also asserted, “what makes us different is our culture and our heritage and the more we can unearth the different things we have is the more the visitor who gets a chance to go into the communities will get to see that.”

He underscored that part of the ministry’s and the TEF’s role “is to preserve this history” and that it brings ordinary Jamaicans into tourism, thereby making a huge difference.

In that regard, Minister McNeill said a programme involving members of parliament identifying a tourism project in their respective constituencies for implementation, is being extended to parish councils and non-government organizations (NGOs) in the next budget year.

 He said these were very important projects as they allow for visitors to learn about the country’s heritage as they drive round the country.

Chairman of the Montego Bay Resort Board, hotelier Evatt Bloomfield, said through consultation, the board was helping to chart the course for the wholesome development of the tourism product, and by extension, the benefits to be gleaned by the broader society.

Mr. Bloomfield outlined a list of items on the Resort Board’s agenda, many of which are in varying stages of development.  The list includes beautification of the Sangster International Airport round-about, work on the Ironshore Fire Station and lighting of the Elegant Corridor.

The Resort Board is also looking at the redevelopment and expansion of the St. Augustine Prep School in Coral Gardens; addressing the desperate need for public sanitary conveniences in downtown Montego Bay; acquiring and installing garbage receptacles in both Montego Bay and Falmouth; and constructing adequate sidewalks from the cruise ship pier at Freeport “as a matter of priority.”

Mr. Bloomfield also pointed to “the need to see to the revitalization of some critical locations, including along the Hip Strip and areas of downtown Montego Bay, both for access and activities for our visitors and what Jamaicans enjoy of Montego Bay.”

Under the linkages programme being pursued between the ministries of Tourism and Agriculture, the Resort Board is also looking into the development of farmer’s markets “to better deepen and expand the relationship and the linkages between agriculture and tourism, and in addition, the various crafts and trades that can benefit from it.”

The first of a monthly series of farmer’s markets in Montego Bay is set for late March.

 There is also the beautification and redevelopment of Falmouth as well as lighting and additional signage at the Martha Brae Bridge to mitigate accidents and the loss of lives.

Kingston, Jamaica: February 26, 2014 – Minister of Tourism and Entertainment, the Hon. Dr. Wykeham McNeill, today (February 26) announced that Cabinet has approved the conditional waiving of visa requirements for nationals of the People’s Republic of China travelling to Jamaica for tourism purposes for periods of 30 days or less.

This continuing effort to diversify and develop new markets for the local hospitality industry will give Jamaica access to the largest spender in international tourism globally. In 2013, Forbes magazine reported China as having 72.5 million outbound trips for the first three quarters of 2013, representing a year on year increase of 18%.  China’s expenditure on travel abroad reached US$ 102 billion in 2012, a 40% jump from 2011, making it the number one tourism source market in the world in terms of spending.

Speaking at a post Cabinet press briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister, Minister McNeill said, “For many years we have recognized China’s potential for growth as a tourism source market for Jamaica, but have also remained cognizant of the difficulties entailed in developing this important market.”

“Up to now, it has been difficult to achieve substantial growth in Chinese arrivals, as many Chinese citizens have had to travel great distances simply to obtain a visa from the Jamaican Embassy in Beijing,” the tourism minister added. The conditional waiver of visa requirements will ease these difficulties while harnessing the market potential.
 

Last year, Jamaica attracted 2,420 Chinese tourists, an increase of 15.1% over the previous year; while 2012 showed an increase of 24% over the previous year.  Minister McNeill noted that although the numbers are small the market has the potential for significant growth. 

Commenting on Jamaica’s longstanding friendship with China, the tourism minister said, “Our relationship with China has been very strong over the years and whereas we are looking at further developing and growing tourism trade with China, I believe our strong business connections will cause the strengthening of both sectors.”

The visa waiver announcement for Chinese nationals comes ahead of Minister McNeill and Director of Tourism, John Lynch, attending the Shanghai Trade Show in April to help strengthen the marketing efforts of the Jamaica Tourist Board and continue discussions on developing airlift arrangements from the region.  

The new visa regime will come into effect in a few weeks time, when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Security and its agencies, institute the preliminary processes to effect a smooth implementation. 

Previously Jamaica relaxed visa requirements for nationals of Columbia, Panama, Venezuela, Russia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland Slovakia and the Ukraine. This strategy has borne fruit and produced in many cases double-digit performances in relatively short periods of time and demand for travel that has brought new airlift from those markets.