In what he describes as an “ambitious but achievable” target, Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, has revealed that he is pushing for 500,000 visitors to Jamaica from Canada by 2025. Minister Bartlett made the disclosure today (September 19) ahead of his departure to the North American country, where he will be joined by senior tourism officials on a five-day ‘winter marketing blitz’ as Jamaica seeks to engage critical travel partners in the Greater Toronto Area.

“We have an overarching goal to welcome 5 million visitors and earn 5 billion dollars in tourism revenue by 2025. Canada is our third largest market and we are currently at just above the 300,000 mark and getting to where we were in 2010 when we had up to 400,000 visitors coming from Canada. My projections are driven by data, and I have evidence now that the Canadian market is ready to take us to half a million visitors within the next two years,” Minister Bartlett expressed.

“This initiative is about that – getting more airlift. We’re going to be talking with Air Canada, WestJet, Canada Jetlines, our new partners, and others to bolster the airlift out of Canada,” asserted the tourism minister. He noted that this follows discussions held with Canadian travel partners at the just concluded JAPEX (Jamaica Product Exchange) trade show held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre from September 11-13.

While in Canada, Minister Bartlett will meet with the President and faculty at McMaster University and tour the Miss Lou Archives, housed in the university’s library. Additionally, the tourism minister underscored that Canada would play a strategic role in Jamaica’s efforts to engage the Asian visitor market, including India and China. In keeping with this, he will be the guest speaker at a special event organised by Mandarin Holidays, where over 100 Chinese travel agents will be in attendance.

Minister Bartlett’s other engagements will include meetings with executives from Air Canada Vacations, and Canada Jetlines as well as travel agents and tour operators. The tourism minister is also scheduled for numerous interviews with various media entities, ranging from print, television and radio, as he seeks to position Jamaica as a destination of choice for Canadian visitors.

Minister Bartlett is scheduled to depart Canada on Monday, September 25 for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where he will join other global tourism leaders including officials from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in marking World Tourism Day 2023, which will be observed on Wednesday, September 27. The tourism minister noted that Jamaica is slated to be the toast of this year’s celebration as a model of resilience and people-oriented investments. The UNWTO’s theme for World Tourism Day 2023 is “Tourism and Green Investments” which seeks to highlight the need to focus on investing in people, planet and prosperity.

Minister Bartlett noted that: “In Jamaica, Tourism Awareness Week 2023, which runs from September 24 – 30, will be observed under the same theme and will include several activities, beginning with a Thanksgiving Church Service on Sunday, September 24 at the Montego Bay New Testament Church of God in St. James.”

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica; September 14, 2023: Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett has revealed that Jamaica’s tourism outlook for the fall season, September to mid-December, is looking very positive in terms of visitor arrivals, with “strong airlift from the United States.”

Answering questions at a JAPEX media breakfast meeting held at the Jewel Grande Montego Bay Resort & Spa earlier this week Minister Bartlett said “coming out of a historic summer, the US has increased its market share from 63 to 74 percent.”

He noted that the overall picture for this year is that Jamaica has moved ahead of 2019 arrival numbers by 5 percent “with the expectation that we’ll end the year at some 2.9 million visitors, just shy of 200,000 more than 2019, which was our best year. And the earnings would be some 22 percent over 2019,” Mr. Bartlett told journalists.

Meanwhile, he noted that cruise tourism has lagged behind with passenger loads being 24 percent short of the pre-COVID 2019 level. Minister Bartlett says, “in the case of cruise tourism Jamaica expects to be back to 2019 levels by the end of 2024.” The projection is that Jamaica will be about 23 percent below 2019 with the expectation of reaching approximately 1.185 million cruise passengers at the end of this year.

The Minister outlined that the island’s room count is also expected to be increased by 5,000 new rooms. This will include the first 500 of the committed 2,000-room Unico (HardRock) hotel; Princess Grand Jamaica set to open in February with 1000 rooms, Riu adding over 700 rooms and 228 rooms by Marriott in Falmouth. Additionally, ground will be broken for other hotels over the next few months at Richmond in St Ann, Negril, Montego Bay, Paradise, Savanna-la-Mar and also in Trelawny.

Describing the Paradise development as “a major project,” Mr. Bartlett said he was excited “to have a number of local players now becoming involved in the accommodation sub sector because I want to see more of our local players, Jamaicans, become inserted in not just the supply side, which is very important, but also on the demand side with hotel rooms.”

Regarding tapping into new markets, Minister Bartlett identified India as one of the key markets that Jamaica is going after with initial initiatives being received favourably and will be followed up by him with a number of speaking engagements and participation in trade fairs later this year or within the first quarter of 2024.

He said partnerships have already been established in India with a public relations team in place working with Jamaica, which has very strong affinities with that country through sports, for example, “and Chris Gayle has already indicated that he will work with us in helping to bridge some gaps in the Indian market.”

The Minister said Jamaica is also targeting the Indian Diaspora in Canada, the United States, United Kingdom and in the Middle East where, according to him, “they’ve already shown interest and are looking at even putting together special charters to come to Jamaica.”

A number of Indian travel agents and travel writers participated in the just concluded JAPEX (Jamaica Product Exchange) trade show held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre from September 11-13.

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica; Tuesday, September 12, 2023: With a target in sight of earning US$4.1 billion, Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett is quite pleased that Jamaica is having its best year ever in visitors arrivals.

His enthusiasm was shared as the tourism sector celebrated the return of the island’s major travel tradeshow post-pandemic, JAPEX, with an elaborate opening event at Chukka Outpost on the Sandy Bay coastline Monday night. “As we currently stand, we are about to have the best year in the history of tourism in Jamaica for stopover arrivals, 2023,” he exuded.

The record of 3.8 million visitors in less than four years after the COVID-19 pandemic had shut down tourism travel globally has been hailed by Mr. Bartlett as a feat achieved through a solid partnership with the international and local tourism partners who are attending the three-day marketing event at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.

“Jamaica today boasts that it is the number one destination in the entire English-speaking Caribbean and arguably in the entire Americas, thank you,” he told the tourism partners, noting that this had been achieved because of their confidence, continued support and commitment to Jamaica.

Minister Bartlett also informed the tourism stakeholders that investments in Jamaica’s tourism sector remained strong and bullish and “next year alone we’ll be having 2,000 new rooms for you to sell for us when you go back to your destinations.” There will also be new attractions and Jamaica remained committed to safety, security and seamlessness, he assured them.

Attendees to JAPEX 2023 are from all across the globe, including the USA, Canada, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Minister Bartlett outlined that next week he will be visiting Canada as well as the United Kingdom to further boost travel there through the Jamaica Marketplace trade event.

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica; Tuesday, September 12, 2023: Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett has welcomed news that air seats out of Canada will increase significantly as of November 5, this year when Canada Jetlines introduces twice-weekly flights between Toronto and Montego Bay.

Jetlines’ Director of Sales and Business Development, Sanjay Kopalkar announced the introduction of the new service during a JAPEX media breakfast meeting held at the Jewel Grande Montego Bay Resort & Spa today (September 12). He said as a start there would be flights on Saturdays and Sundays utilising state of the art A320 Aircraft with 174-passenger capacity.

There is also an expectation of increasing to three fights weekly in the winter, and “depending on the progress and getting new aircraft, which are lined up for the first quarter of 2024, we will look at flying at least five times a week into Jamaica,” said Mr Kopalkar. The airline is also contemplating service to Kingston in the near future.

For his part, Mr Kopalkar said he was excited about the partnership between his company and the Ministry of Tourism and its public bodies that made a dream into reality and brought about the new air service that will cater largely to tourists. He said “Jetlines Airlines and Jetlines Vacations are committed to service, comfort and affordability.”

In welcoming the service, Minister Bartlett noted that Canada was Jamaica’s second largest source market, next to the USA, for tourists and “with Jetlines coming on board we are expecting a welcome increase in stopover visitors from Canada to take us closer to achieving our committed target of five million visitors and US$5 billion in earnings within five years.”

He expressed that “together we will build bridges, create lasting memories and continue to foster strong relations between Canada and Jamaica.”

The year-old Canada Jetlines is being promoted as a value-oriented leisure airline, operating scheduled and charter services throughout North America with its fleet of Airbus A320-200 aircraft. From its base at Toronto Pearson International, the airline’s destinations also include Las Vegas, Orlando International, and Cancun, Mexico.

“We are eager to contribute to the growth of tourism in Montego Bay by offering convenient and affordable flights, and we are here to encourage more Canadians to discover the wonders of Jamaica, fostering cultural ties as well as sustainable growth for both countries,” said Mr Kopalkar.

Kingston, Jamaica; Thursday, September 7, 2023: As Jamaica seeks to unlock the vast potential of the Latin American (LATAM) visitor market, Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, has emphasised the importance of multi-destination tourism and 'co-petition' to this initiative. Minister Bartlett highlighted the issue during his address at the 'Keys to LATAM’ Conference, organised by the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) and Adtelligent Limited. The conference, held earlier today (September 7) at the Spanish Court Hotel, brought together industry professionals to explore business opportunities in the lucrative Latin American (LATAM) market.

Minister Bartlett underscored that a strong foundation existed for collaboration between Jamaica and Latin American countries, rooted in shared history, cultural ties, and geographical proximity. In this regard, the tourism minister revealed that he recently met with the Ambassadors from Mexico and the Dominican Republic to discuss multi-destination activities geared at collectively boosting tourism offerings across the region.

“This post-COVID period is calling for collaboration and cooperation, removing the notion of competitiveness that has characterised our activities up to this point and replacing it with the notion of ‘co-petitiveness’ so that we ‘co-pete’ rather than compete,” said Minister Bartlett. 

He continued: "As we strive to enhance our product and diversify our visitor base, it is imperative that we tap into emerging markets that hold tremendous potential, and Latin America, with its rich heritage, boundless passion, and growing economic influence, promises to be just that.”

With Latin America seeing an emerging middle class, which has increasing disposable income that has led to a surge in outbound tourism, Minister Bartlett explained that this demographic's quest for diverse cultural experiences presents a valuable opportunity for Jamaica to position itself as a preferred choice for Latin American travellers seeking unique and authentic experiences.

He underscored the immense economic potential and diversity of the Latin American region, boasting a population of over 650 million people and a combined GDP of over $5 trillion.

"My Ministry is targeting just a small fraction of that with a goal of 250,000 visitors from Latin America coming to Jamaica over the next five years as part of our aggressive push to reengage this significant source market," the tourism minister emphasised.

Furthermore, Minister Bartlett detailed his recent rebuilding efforts in the region, leading a team of tourism officials on a three-country market blitz in Argentina, Chile, and Peru. He also alluded to upcoming trips to Columbia, Mexico and Panama. So far, engagements have included critical discussions with tourism stakeholders, representatives of local authorities, ministries of tourism, as well as major regional carriers such as Copa and LATAM Airlines.

The tourism minister expressed optimism that collaborative events like the 'Keys to LATAM' Conference have the potential to not only boost Jamaica's growth numbers but also expand the country's global footprint and stimulate travel demand for the island.

KINGSTON, Jamaica; Thursday, September 7, 2023: Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett has hailed the late founder of Island Car Rentals, Mr. Michael Campbell, describing him as “a true stalwart in the transportation subsector of tourism and a man of impeccable character.”

Mr. Campbell, who died on Wednesday, September 6, 2023, founded the company in April 1973 with 15 vehicles and grew it to a fleet of some 1,600 vehicles to date, the largest in the island. Having developed an international reputation, for the past 13 years “Island” has been rated Jamaica’s Leading Car Rental Company and for the tenth year, as the “Caribbean’s Leading Independent Car Rental Company” by the World Travel Awards.

Minister Bartlett lauded Mr. Campbell as “an innovator and a trendsetter,” having brought a new dimension to the car rental industry with the establishment of the signature Island Car Rental company “which today is one of the outstanding statements in ground transportation in the entire Caribbean.”

Mr. Bartlett spoke of the far-reaching reputation of the company, which, he said, stood out as a testament to its quality “and the excellence of the execution of the services that he and the awesome team that he’s been able to garner around him.” He underscored that “the entire tourism family offers deep condolences to Mr. Campbell’s family, friends and other loved ones.”

While lamenting that Mr. Campbell will be missed, Minister Bartlett said: “We will glory in the legacy that he left behind; a strong and enduring contribution in entrepreneurship and a deep and abiding commitment to Jamaica, land he loved.”

Minister Bartlett added: “May his soul rest in peace and may light perpetual shine on him, and may his family take comfort in the fact that Michael lived a great life, served his country well and is at peace with his Maker.”

Kingston, Jamaica; Monday, August 28, 2023: It was an exciting weekend for Jamaica on the international stage with the destination taking home over 30 major awards at the 2023 World Travel Awards Caribbean & The America’s Gala, held on August 26 in St. Lucia.

Jamaica was again named Caribbean’s Leading Destination for the 17th consecutive year with the Jamaica Tourist Board winning the Caribbean’s Leading Tourist Board award for the 15th year in a row. The country was also named the Caribbean’s Leading Cruise Destination 2023, with the Port of Falmouth being named the Caribbean’s Leading Cruise Port 2023 and the Port of Montego Bay being named the Caribbean’s Leading Home Port 2023.

In celebrating the remarkable achievement of destination Jamaica and its tourism stakeholders, Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett said: “There’s always a strong sense of joy and pride that comes when you see the dedication of the tourism team being recognized and rewarded internationally. To see Jamaica consistently perform so well is a clear indication of our commitment to excellence.”

Bartlett added that: “This is a great post-pandemic statement of the energy, innovation and resilience of Jamaica’s tourism industry. As minister I feel blessed to share in these accomplishments but also urge vigilance in developing the sector. Our record growth and recovery have been nothing short of phenomenal; however, we cannot become complacent and lose sight of the vision as we strive towards a better future. Massive congratulations to the entire team!”

While Jamaica’s athletes brought the curtains down on a spectacular performance at the World Athletics Championships and Minister Bartlett wrapped up the destination’s Eastern European marketing blitz in Budapest, members of the tourism team, led by Director of Tourism, Donovan White, represented the island at the awards ceremony hosted at the Sandals Grande St. Lucian.

In the hospitality sector, Sandals Resorts International was named Caribbean's Leading Hotel Brand 2023. Sandals Dunn’s River was named the Caribbean’s Leading New Resort 2023 as well as the Caribbean’s Leading Luxury All-Inclusive Resort 2023. Similarly, Sandals Montego Bay was named Jamaica’s Leading Resort 2023, with Beaches Negril being awarded Jamaica’s Leading All-Inclusive Family Resort 2023. Half Moon also walked away with two awards, securing the titles of the Caribbean’s Leading Hotel 2023 and Jamaica’s Leading Luxury Resort 2023. GoldenEye was among the double winners, copping the Caribbean’s Leading Boutique Resort 2023, while Fleming Villa at GoldenEye was named the Caribbean’s Leading Luxury Hotel Villa 2023.

Additionally, The Tryall Club was awarded the Caribbean’s Leading Hotel Residences 2023, while Round Hill Hotel & Villas came away with the Caribbean’s Leading Villa Resort 2023 award. The Montego Bay Convention Centre retained the title of the Caribbean’s Leading Meetings & Conference Centre and Jamaica Inn was again named the Caribbean's Leading Luxury All Suite Resort.

GO! Jamaica Travel was among the night’s big winners, taking home four awards, the Caribbean’s Leading Destination Management Company 2023, Caribbean’s Leading Tour Operator 2023, Caribbean’s Leading Travel Agency 2023 and Jamaica’s Leading Travel Agency 2023. The Caribbean’s Leading Adventure Tour Operator 2023 award went to Island Routes with Margaritaville Caribbean claiming the Caribbean’s Leading Entertainment Venue 2023 award. Dunn’s River Falls & Park was named the Caribbean’s Leading Adventure Tourist Attraction.

Other winners included Island Car Rentals who were awarded the Caribbean’s Leading Independent Car Rental Company 2023 and Jamaica’s leading Car Rental Company 2023. Sangster International Airport and Club Mobay at Sangster International Airport were each named the Caribbean’s Leading Airport 2023 and the Caribbean’s Leading Airport Lounge 2023 respectively.

Jamaica’s Leading Boutique Hotel 2023 award went to Strawberry Hill whereas Jamaica’s Leading Hotel 2023 title went to S Hotel Jamaica. Spanish Court Hotel won Jamaica’s Leading Business Hotel 2023 award with Hyatt Ziva Rose Hall being designated as Jamaica’s Leading Conference Hotel 2023.

“These awards are proof of the hard work and dedication of all our committed tourism stakeholders who help to make our tourism product one of the best and most sought-after in the world,” noted Director of Tourism, Donovan White.

Jamaica and its tourism entities received some 33 awards at the ceremony. 

Kingston, Jamaica; Thursday, August 24, 2023: As Jamaica enjoys its best summer tourist season ever, Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett has revealed that the island is now the only Caribbean nation to secure increased earnings in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Jamaica is the first and only Caribbean country, within the first year after the COVID-19 pandemic, to not just fully recover but in fact to have increased earnings. The result is that today Jamaica is heading for a record in terms of earnings and is some 10-15% ahead in terms of stopover arrivals, while only lagging in cruise,” Minister Bartlett outlined.

Mr. Bartlett made the announcement as he addressed media representatives in Hungary where he is currently leading a special marketing blitz to promote destination Jamaica amid the staging of the 19^th World Athletics Championships underway in Budapest.

The Minister also outlined that plans are in place to triple the number of visitors from Central and Eastern Europe by 2025, amid efforts to position Jamaica as a destination of choice for visitors from that region.

“Jamaica currently receives some 2,000 visitors from Central and Eastern Europe, with Hungary contributing to that amount. However we are ramping up our marketing efforts with new airlift arrangements as well as fam trips, so we expect to increase that number to 6,000 visitors by 2025,” he explained.

“We  are looking at ways to build relationships with other countries around Europe. With countries such as Serbia, Georgia and Poland and to use Condor as the critical airline for connectivity with the region, with the Berlin to Montego Bay route as a start,” he added.

Mr. Bartlett’s comments come on the heels of the Planning Institute of Jamaica’s recent quarterly report, which confirmed that total visitor expenditure for April 2023 increased by 19.7%, compared with the corresponding month in 2022, as well as a 14.7% rise in preliminary airport arrivals for July 2023. These figures highlight that Jamaica is on track to meet its projections of 3.8 million visitors and foreign exchange earnings of US$4.1 billion by the end of the year.

Minister Bartlett stressed that “Jamaica’s tourism sector continues to register record-breaking growth, not just by chance but due to the strategic response to the pandemic by the Ministry of Tourism and our committed tourism partners. I must commend the entire tourism team for their hard work, which has enabled us to navigate our way through the pandemic.”

Kingston, Jamaica; Tuesday, August 22, 2023: On the heels of an impressive ninth consecutive quarter of economic growth for Jamaica’s tourism industry, Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett has kicked off engagements in Eastern Europe with a marketing blitz to promote destination Jamaica amid the staging of the 19^th World Athletics Championships underway in Budapest, Hungary.

“We met with over 50 tour operators, travel agents and media representatives at the President’s Hotel. We discussed the new way in which Jamaica will engage Central and Eastern European countries, including Poland, Georgia, Serbia and Bulgaria, among others. The connection of course being through Berlin, Germany, via Condor that has a direct route between Montego Bay and Berlin. We are also in discussions with a major private sector player about their plans to operate charter flights between Bulgaria and Jamaica for Winter 2023/24,” noted Minister Bartlett.

Noting that the traffic between Hungary and Jamaica is currently low, the tourism minister stressed that the appetite for travel to Jamaica is strong and he is excited to capitalize on this. He continued, “As Jamaica doubles down on its efforts to increase visitor arrivals, this will provide a unique opportunity to leverage the power of sports tourism to promote Jamaica as an attractive and dynamic travel destination and strengthen the relationship between Jamaica and Europe.”

The tourism minister also highlighted that these engagements are aligned with the Ministry of Tourism’s Blue Ocean Strategy which is targeted at bolstering arrivals from non-traditional markets while encouraging product differentiation locally. Along the same vein, Minister Bartlett welcomed the recent announcement from the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) that the Hotels & Restaurants industry grew by 9% in the April to June 2023 quarter, with preliminary estimates on foreign national arrivals standing at 705,031 visitors, an increase of 14.2% compared with the corresponding quarter of 2022.

At the same time, the latest tourism figures show that between January and July of this year, Jamaica welcomed some 2.47 million visitors. This includes 1.72 million stopover visitors and 747,643 cruise visitors, more than twice the number recorded for the corresponding period in 2022; with gross earnings of US$2.59 billion.

“You’re looking at a more than 24% increase in gross tourism dollars earned in just those seven months. The economy continues to grow, and tourism continues to play a big role in that. Coming out of the pandemic, tourism has consistently demonstrated its resilience and, as a result, the sector’s contribution to the Jamaican economy cannot be overlooked. Now more than ever, we are focused on advancing programmes and policies that ensure this growth trajectory is sustained,” asserted the tourism minister.

With the PIOJ’s recent quarterly report confirming that total visitor expenditure for April 2023 increased by 19.7%, compared with the corresponding month of 2022 as well as a 14.7% uptick in preliminary airport arrivals for July 2023, Jamaica is on track to meet its projections of 3.8 million visitors and foreign exchange earnings of US$4.1 billion by the end of the year.

Returning focus to the dual-purpose nature of his trip, Minister Bartlett added, “The other noteworthy area is the impact of the World Athletics Championships where the Jamaicans are performing creditably and are expected to do greater things leading up to Sunday’s closure. Already we have three medals, two silver and a bronze, and we are expecting to pick up several gold medals in the coming days.”