Kingston, Jamaica: August 28, 2014 – The Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment has extended its open call for the submission of new and existing entertainment events to be added to the ‘Reggae Month| its Kingston for February’ 2015 calendar, to Wednesday, September 10, 2014.

State Minister in the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment, the Hon. Damion Crawford explained that “events eligible for submission are those that fall between February 1 and 28, 2015 and which are being held in the Kingston and St. Andrew metropolitan region. The proposed events must also be related to reggae or another musical art form typical of Jamaica.”

Reggae Month| its Kingston for February is an initiative of the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment aimed at using Reggae music and the cultural significance of February to attract visitors to Kingston.

To apply for endorsement, event organizers should complete and submit two original copies of the ‘Reggae Month| its Kingston for February’ endorsement form, which can be found on the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment’s website: www.mot.gov.jm/entertainment. Applications must be typed and returned to the 1^st Floor lobby at the ministry, at 64 Knutsford Boulevard, Kingston 5, or by email at: entertainment@mot.gov.jm

Minister Crawford said “I would like to encourage event organizers who will be staging events which meet the standard outlined to submit their proposals for consideration as we would like wide-scale participation in this major entertainment initiative.”

Events chosen will be included in the ‘Reggae Month| its Kingston for February’ calendar for 2015, and will receive local and international promotion.

The Minister noted that completing an endorsement form is not a guarantee of funding by the ministry or its agencies.

Kingston, Jamaica: June 12, 2014: Local entertainment events are to play a pivotal role in attracting summer vacationers to the island. This as the innovative summer entertainment programme, “90 Days of Summer” announced by the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment last year, has been rebranded and will be rolled-out across the entire island.  

Minister of State in the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment, Hon. Damion Crawford says the strategically packaged local entertainment events have been rebranded as “Jamrock Summer ‘90 Days, 90 Ways’” to give it a distinctly Jamaican identity. 

Making his Sectoral Presentation in Parliament yesterday (June 10), Minister Crawford said the launch of the initiative has been set for July 16 in Montego Bay and will entail an intensive promotional programme, using a variety of media aimed at multiple markets to attract tourists to Jamaica.

The concentration weeks and the full Jamrock Summer package will be unveiled at the launch.

“Coming out of the Jamaican press launch, we will be capturing pictures and videos to create a robust electronic press kit with a sizzle reel.  It is important to note that this launch was deliberately timed to coincide with the launch of Sumfest which happens the next day, to capitalize on international press engagement,” he said.

With social media and the internet being integral to the marketing of this programme, promotions will be managed by a local company.

According to Minister Crawford, “the Jamrock Summer Committee is embarking on the largest on-the-ground promotional campaign ever executed in the history of the nation.” The promotion will target specific hotspots that have direct airlift to Jamaica or a known reggae/dancehall/ska following with easy connections to Jamaica.” 

The programme will incorporate a college tour component targeting the 14 million undergraduate population of which one million travel for Spring Break. There will also be a college marketing effort involving the heavy use of social media that will reward students for sharing with their network and a Jamaican cultural experience focused around popular music.

Kingston, Jamaica: June 11, 2014 - Cabinet has approved the establishment of a National Registry of Entertainment Practitioners and the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment is currently streamlining the processes necessary to make the system fully operational and compliant with the new Fiscal Incentives regime.

The announcement was made by State Minister in the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment, the Hon. Damion Crawford, during his contribution to the Sectoral Debate in Parliament, on Tuesday, June 10, 2014.

“The registration period has been opened since January of this year and will end on July 31, 2014”, Minister Crawford said. He emphasized that “registration is free, so I urge all entertainment practitioners to register and capitalize on the opportunity to access tools of trade and free movement that registration and certification as a bona fide practitioner facilitates.”

The introduction of the registry is aimed at creating an inclusive and effective information hub that facilitates the delivery and administration of the processes necessary for the development of a sustainable entertainment industry. 

When operational, the registry will among other things, provide a central portal for listing Jamaican entertainment services and companies including their key profile and contact information and legitimize the entertainment industry for greater economic benefit. It will also foster efficiency and transparency within the entertainment industry and facilitate free movement of creative skills internationally and across the region.

Minister Crawford then informed Parliament that Cabinet has also approved an Event Rating System, which is intended to be a guide for entertainment practitioners and the general public on what should be offered to the public and what people should expect from entertainment events.

“We will undertake a public education campaign shortly to speak to the use of sexual content, violence and strong language in our entertainment output,” Minister Crawford added.

The rating system is intended to provide entertainment practitioners and consumers of entertainment with guidelines as to what is expected and the types of content suitable for varying audiences.  Events will be assigned ratings to indicate the degree of caution parents and the general public should exercise, and the content sponsors should take into account in determining whether an event is suitable for their consumption or their brand association.

Statement by

Minister of Tourism and Entertainment, the Hon. Dr. Wykeham McNeill

                                congratulating former Director General, Carrole Guntley                                            

                               on Receiving the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s                                              

Lifetime Achievement Award

June 6, 2014

Minister of Tourism and Entertainment, the Hon. Dr. Wykeham McNeill has congratulated former Director General in the Ministry, Carrole Guntley on receiving the coveted Caribbean Tourism Organization’s (CTO) Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ms. Guntley received the award today, June 6, 2014, during CTO’s Caribbean Week in New York activities. Minister McNeill said “I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to Carrole Guntley on her latest recognition by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) with its Lifetime Achievement Award.  Her work and dedication to Jamaica’s tourism industry as well the wider Caribbean region is exemplary and makes her a most deserving candidate for this special award.

The award is testimony to her long and distinguished service in the industry, having served in the private and public sectors in a variety of capacities: Area Manager for Jamaica, St. Maarten & Western Caribbean for BWIA, European Marketing Manager for the Caribbean Tourism Organisation, Jamaica’s first female Director of Tourism and more recently Director General in the Ministry of Tourism and Entertainment.

It was during her tenure in the late eighties as Jamaica’s Director of Tourism that the island achieved the landmark target of hosting one million visitors.

Over the years Ms. Guntley has demonstrated an insight which I am confident will continue to be of benefit to the region. Her accomplishments over the past few decades span not only the airline and accommodation sectors, where she has consistently demonstrated great vision and perseverance, but have been admired by the Jamaican government as well as industry colleagues.

I commend her for her hard work, high standards and true commitment to the hospitality industry and towards ensuring its sustainability. Once again, I am very pleased to extend my sincere congratulations on this prestigious and most deserving award and I wish her every success in her future endeavours.”

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.