KINGSTON, Jamaica; January 22, 2020: Jamaica has been named the Caribbean’s Leading Destination at the World Travel Award’s Caribbean Gala ceremony, for the fifteenth consecutive season.

At the same event, the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) was declared the Caribbean’s Leading Tourist Board for the thirteenth consecutive year.

In expressing his delight, Tourism Minister, Hon Edmund Bartlett said, “Jamaica is very honoured to once again be named the Caribbean’ Leading Destination with the Caribbean’s Leading Tourist Board. This certainly could not have happened without the hard work that my team and all our stakeholders have done to ensure that our visitors always have a memorable experience. This recognition further justifies why we are indeed the Heartbeat of the World.”

These awards come on the heels of Jamaica being named as one of the Best Places to Go in 2020, according to CNN, Bloomberg and Forbes. Additionally, the recent crowning of Toni-Ann Singh as Miss World 2019, the fourth time a Jamaican has won this title, has secured extraordinary international recognition for Jamaica on the world stage.

“In Jamaica, we work hard to ensure our tourism product stands out on the global stage. We have undertaken wide-reaching efforts such as attracting renowned international hospitality brands; implementing environmental initiatives to preserve Jamaica’s natural beauty; and highlighting our Larger than Life experiences on and off-island,” said Donovan White, Jamaica’s Director of Tourism. 

A  complete  list  of  awards won  by  Jamaica  and  its  tourism  partners, representing  the  elite  in international tourism for each of these categories, is as follows:

·         Caribbean's Leading Tourist Board (Jamaica Tourist Board)

·         Caribbean's Leading Destination (Jamaica)

·         Caribbean's Leading Cruise Destination (Jamaica)

·         Caribbean's Leading Cruise Port (Port of Falmouth)

·         Caribbean's Leading Home Port (Port of Montego Bay)

·         Caribbean's Leading Adventure Tour Operator (Island Routes Caribbean Adventures)

·         Caribbean's Leading Adventure Tourist Attraction (Dunn's River Falls)

·         Caribbean's Leading Airport (Sangster International Airport)

·         Caribbean's Leading Airport Lounge (Club Mobay @ Sangster International Airport)

·         Caribbean's Leading Boutique Resort (GoldenEye)

·         Caribbean's Leading Tour Operator (GO! Jamaica Travel)

·         Caribbean's Leading Destination Management Company (GO! Jamaica Travel)

·         Caribbean's Leading Entertainment Venue (Margaritaville Caribbean)

·         Caribbean's Leading Hotel Brand (Sandals Resorts International)

·         Caribbean's Leading Hotel Residences (The Tryall Club)

·         Caribbean's Leading Independent Car Rental Company (Island Car Rentals)

·         Caribbean's Leading Luxury All Suite Resort (Jamaica Inn)

·         Caribbean's Leading Luxury Hotel Villa (Fleming Villa @ GoldenEye)

·         Caribbean's Leading Luxury Resort (Meliá Braco Village)

·         Caribbean's Leading Meetings & Conference Centre (Montego Bay Convention Centre)

·         Caribbean's Leading New Hotel (AC Hotel Kingston)

·         Caribbean's Leading Travel Agency (Trafalgar Travel)

·         Caribbean's Leading Villa Resort (Round Hill Hotel & Villas)

World Travel Awards™ was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all key sectors of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries.

KINGSTON, Jamaica; January 22, 2020:  The Jamaican-based Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) on Tuesday donated US$100,000 to the Bahamas. The funds will assist with hurricane relief following the passage of Hurricane Dorian last year, as well as for the development of the Disaster Risk, Resilience & Readiness Assessment in the Caribbean Tourism Sector Study.

Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism and Co-Chair of the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, made the presentation, during the Caribbean Travel Marketplace taking place in Baha Mar.

The donation, which was presented to the Bahamian Minister of Tourism, Hon. Dionisio D’Aguilar, is a collaborate effort with the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA).

The donation was drawn from GTRCMC’s relief fund supporting tourism-ravaged economies impacted by disruptions including natural disasters and pandemics.

The Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre, which was first announced in 2017, operates in a global context that is characterized by not only new challenges, but also new opportunities for tourism in an effort to improve the tourism product as well as to ensure the sustainability of tourism globally.

The Centre, which is located at the University of the West Indies, is tasked with creating, producing and generating toolkits, guidelines and policies to handle the recovery process following a disaster. It will also assist with preparedness, management and recovery from disruptions and/or crises that impact tourism and threaten economies and livelihoods

Category 5 Hurricane Dorian made impact with the Bahamas last October causing severe flooding and destruction, specifically in the Abaco and Grand Bahama Islands.

KINGSTON, Jamaica; January 21, 2020: Tourism Minister Hon Edmund Bartlett departed the island yesterday to attend the Caribbean Travel Marketplace in Baha Mar, Bahamas.  While there, he will participate in several business meetings and will form a part of a panel on a forum entitled “Caribbean Tourism Pulse: 2020 and Beyond”.   

Caribbean Travel Marketplace is the largest Tourism Marketing event in the Caribbean, hosted under the auspices of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association. It serves as an important platform to enhance exchanges between tourism suppliers from around the world.

The event displays hotels, tourist boards, destination management companies, tour operators, airlines among others related to the travel industry. It is also the ideal forum for establishing new customer contacts and conducting business.

More than 1000 delegates from over 25 countries as well as several buyer companies are expected to attend.

They include 191 representatives from countries such as Australia, the Bahamas, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Panama, Portugal, Puerto Rico, the Russian Federation, Spain, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States.

According to the CEO and Director General of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, Frank Comito, destinations such as Jamaica, the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic and Grenada are leading the region with new and refreshed products.

The Minister will be joined by the Director of Tourism, Donovan White; Deputy Director of Tourism, Camile Glenister; and Jamaica Tourist Board’s Caribbean Sales Manager, Trudy Dixon.

Minister Bartlett and Mr. White will continue to Spain to participate in the Spanish International Tourism Trade Fair (FITUR) as well at the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) programme of activities in Madrid, Spain during the period January 22–26, 2020. 

KINGSTON, Jamaica; January 17, 2020: Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett has announced that his Ministry will be increasing investment in developing Carnival in Jamaica as a tourism product, which will be marketed to destinations across the globe.

Speaking yesterday at the launch of Carnival in Jamaica, at the AC Hotel in Kingston, the Minister said, “The Tourism Linkages Network will continue to support Carnival in Jamaica. We are committed to spend more on it, not for events, but to build the product because that is what will be sustainable and lasting.”

He added that, “Events are good, but you cannot market and package events in the same way you can with a product. In tourism, we drive and market products. We package these products as a combination of rooms, air seats and the experience.”

The marketing efforts for last year’s event proved effective, with data from the Jamaica Tourist Board,  showing that visitor arrivals through Norman Manley International Airport for the respective Easter/Carnival periods between 2018 and 2019 increased by 11.5% from 9,881 to 11,014 visitors.

Additionally, in the few days leading up to the culmination of Carnival in Jamaica, there was an increase in visitor arrivals from NMIA in 2019 of 18.4% over 2018's Carnival lead up.

For an average of five nights, visitors also spent approximately US$240 per person per night; up from US$236 in 2018.

 “Carnival was re-energised in 2017 with one intention in mind – to create a carnival product so that we can market it… This building out of the product will create an economic arrangement that will generate jobs and employment for hundreds of people, which is the bottom line for prosperity from carnival,” said the Minister.

The data highlighted that Carnival in Jamaica, resulted in an increase in economic activity in a myriad of subsectors, such as entertainment and the creative industries, attractions, ground transportation, auto rentals, catering, media, and retail. 

Thirty-three percent of carnival participants visited an attraction, 49% dined out, and 47% participated in nightlife activities.

Kingston hotels were booked to capacity with 30% of carnival patrons staying in hotels. Airbnb was also a beneficiary with 28% opting for homestays and the remainder staying in private homes, villas, guesthouses and apartments.

“We are marketing Jamaica as a destination for music, entertainment, food, and most importantly – for love. That combination now makes Jamaica, the heartbeat of the world. You will hear more about that as we move on, in terms of our marketing arrangements across the globe,” said the Minister. 

He further explained that, “This marketing drive has become a critical component of the architecture and the arrangements that we are making for disseminating ideas and information about Jamaica. This is very important to us because we are looking forward to building the city of Kingston, as the entertainment sector of the Caribbean.

In doing so, we are not competing with Trinidad or other destinations. We are creating something that is authentic, opinionated – something that people would come to Jamaica to experience and to consume and go nowhere else to get.”

Carnival in Jamaica was launched in 2017, and is used as the umbrella brand for all carnival activities, during the carnival period, making it a national product. This is an annual undertaking, which aims to transform the carnival experience locally. It is a key initiative of the Tourism Linkages Network with support from the Jamaica Tourist Board and key stakeholders.

KINGSTON, Jamaica; January 17, 2020: Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett says data from a recent demand study shows the need for J$391.6 Billion in goods from the agricultural and manufacturing sectors. The break out shows a demand for goods of J$352 Billion for manufacturing and J$39.6 Billion for agriculture.

The tourism demand study was designed to identify the existing/potential demand in the tourism sector for goods and services across local sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and entertainment. The study is done through the Ministry’s Tourism Linkages Council.

Minister Bartlett, who officially handed over the demand study to President of the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA) Richard Pandohie, said, “The purpose of the study is to help guide our decisions as it relates to the consumption patterns of our visitors and these figures show a very high demand for products in agriculture and manufacturing.

 We want our local tourism suppliers to provide these inputs in agriculture and manufacturing so that we reduce the leakage of our earnings.”

Mr. Pandohie, who accepted the demand study, also highlighted the need to have more inputs supplied locally to reduce the leakage within tourism.

Through the Tourism Linkages Network, the Ministry of Tourism has been strengthening linkages with other sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing and entertainment to build the capacity of local suppliers to meet the growing demands within tourism.

“What these figures indicate is that there are many opportunities for increased linkages with local suppliers to facilitate import substitution in producing various items. The aim of the Ministry of Tourism is to foster more purchasing of local goods and services, which will reduce the imports and help to plug the leakages from importation,” said Minister Bartlett.

The study found specifically that the significant increase in hotel constructions across the island has influenced the demand for manufactured products needed to furnish these establishments.

The study also highlighted that mainly local producers were satisfying the demand for goods and services in the tourism sector, but that importation also constituted a reasonable proportion of expenditure on certain items.

KINGSTON, Jamaica; January 16, 2020: Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett has announced that the Jamaica Rum Festival (JRF) will be packaged and marketed as a tourism product and sold to potential visitors to the island.

Speaking at the launch of the festival at Devon House last evening, Minister Bartlett said, “We want the rum festival to be a product, not just an event. So we want to, through the Jamaica Tourist Board, package it with rooms and with seats and bring the visitors to Jamaica to consume this critical asset that is from the heart and soul of the Jamaican people.”

The JRF covers an exploration of Jamaican rum; how it is made; the varying types and how best to enjoy it.

Globally, millions of people travel annually to attend various types of festivals, which have become a niche that destinations can capitalize on to boost arrivals and earnings.  Last year, the JRF attracted 6000 patrons.

Minister Bartlett said that, “In marketing the festival as a product, I am building out the capacity to retain the earnings from the tourism industry. In 2016, we were retaining only 30cents on the dollar.

Today because of the networks and the various new and opinionated attractions that we are putting together in Jamaica plus the increase in rooms and airlift, we now retain 40.8cents on the dollar, which is an increase of 30 percent, the highest in the Caribbean.”

The Ministry’s Tourism Linkages Network continues to strengthen the links between tourism and other economic sectors to increase consumption of local goods and services, diversify the tourism product and retain more of the country’s foreign exchange earnings.

“We are committed to creating a tourism that is reimagined that provides the most authentic Jamaican experiences for our visitors. In doing that, we will allow our small suppliers to earn more from the value chain of the sector by providing their creativity and passion,’ added the Minister.

KINGSTON, Jamaica; January 15, 2020: Tourism Minister Hon. Edmund Bartlett says plans are in high gear for Jamaica to host the first ever United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Summit on Innovation and Resilience Management, in Montego Bay this May.

“Jamaica has been selected as the venue for the first ever Global Summit on Innovation and Resilience Management. This is very important for us as a destination because the discussions on resilience have become the new reality within tourism and by extension the global space. It is resilience that will give us the capacity to respond to the global disruptions that are coming daily,” said Minister Bartlett.

The two-day UNWTO Global Summit on Innovation and Resilience Management begins on May 28 at the Montego Bay Convention Centre and coincides with the 65th Meeting of the Regional Commission for the Americas (CAM), of which Jamaica is currently the Chair.  

“This conference is going to look very seriously at models [of resilience building] and get best practices from different countries on how ideas have been coming together to build capacity and help us in the Caribbean in terms of dealing with these seismic events that are now part of our reality,” he said.

He added that, “The other key part of it is innovation, which is at the heart of understanding how to add value to our process.  Adding value is what we are about…So start-ups will be a big part of this conference. We are going to be looking at examples of start-ups with the Caribbean.”

The Tourism Minister also stated that the conference is going to focus on how to create new and exciting experiences for the industry with key experts from across the globe sharing how they think the future of tourism is going to be constructed

“We have to get a better understanding overall about how the future of tourism is going to be constructed and this conference will seek to look into that. Change creates a level of uncertainty unless you have knowledge and you are able to be guided by analytics. This is what we are about… We are building the capacity to be able to project better, to respond faster and to be nimble and adaptive,” said Minister Bartlett. 

KINGSTON, Jamaica; January 13, 2020: Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett says he will be putting measures in place to declare Port Royal as a prescribed area, under the Jamaica Tourist Board Act. This move should ensure a safe and hassle-free environment for tourists, as it would allow police additional remit to handle harassers.

This announcement follows a meeting with Government officials, representatives from the Port Authority of Jamaica, Urban Development Corporation, the security forces and other stakeholders regarding the development of Port Royal, at Jamaica House in St Andrew, on January 08, 2020.

During the discussions, the Prime Minister declared that preventative measures would be implemented to tackle potential harassment and security issues at Port Royal, where a cruise port terminal is being developed.

In anticipation for the first cruise vessel, which is expected to arrive at the end of the month, the Prime Minister, also said, “Port Royal will not be a free-for-all. It is not going to be a place for hustlers and thugs and people to come to harass, it has to be a place of order.

It will also be a place where not just visitors from overseas will have the opportunity to enjoy the experience, but we want Jamaicans to enjoy the experience as well.”

According to the Act, The Tourism Minister ‘may make regulations to create measures and methods to be adopted in improving the basis of the tourist industry in Jamaica and in controlling and eliminating undesirable factors that may affect it.’

The designation of prescribed areas also regulates the activities and conduct of persons. This specifically controls the: ‘soliciting for any prescribed purpose in those areas; or who, having no fixed place of business in those areas or whose business activities are not carried out pursuant to any licence granted for that purpose under the provisions of any other enactment, offer goods or services to members of the public in those areas.’

It can also affect the licensing of such categories of persons employed in tourist accommodation or tourism enterprises as may be prescribed.

“We are very excited to welcome visitors to a brand new cruise port and will ensure that they have a safe, seamless and secure experience.

By declaring Port Royal as a prescribed area, we will be better able to make this investment sustainable and ensure that the sector continues to thrive,” said Minister Bartlett.

OCHO RIOS, St. Ann; January 10, 2020: Tourism Minister Hon. Edmund Bartlett says Ocho Rios has emerged as the number one port in the country, having contributed forty percent of total visitor arrivals in 2019.

Preliminary data from the Jamaica Tourist Board indicate that Jamaica welcomed approximately 4.3million visitors last year. Of that number, cruise passengers accounted for over 1.5million.

Speaking at the inaugural visit of the Norwegian Bliss today in Ocho Rios, Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett said, “Ocho Rios has had a phenomenal growth trend for last year, welcoming 197 calls, which represented a passenger count of over 600 thousand. This is a 40% contribution to our overall visitor arrivals and has made Ocho Rios the number port for calls in the island.”

The additional call of the Norwegian bliss will add over 11,000 visitors to Jamaica’s cruise numbers following its two calls this year.

Jamaica remains one of the most sought after cruise destinations with diverse tourism products and experiences as well as some of the biggest and best ports. Last year, Jamaica was awarded top Caribbean Cruise Destination of the year for 2018 from Caribbean Journal, the world’s largest website covering Caribbean travel and trade news.

“Cruise Tourism forms an integral part in the Ministry of Tourism’s overall growth strategy and I am pleased about the numbers coming out of Ocho Rios. There’s more good news as the projection for Ocho Rios for the first quarter of 2020 is 36 calls that will amount to over 86 thousand visitors” said Minister Bartlett.

Executive Director of Jamaica Vacations, the agency of the Ministry of Tourism responsible for cruise tourism, Joy Roberts, also indicated that more port experiences are being built out to attract more passenger engagement and spend. This is being done through entertainment and food and will be done through multi-port destinations for cruise ships to give each port its own unique theme so passengers will leave satisfied with a variety of experiences.

“The most recent imitative is the offer of a cup of Jamaica Blue Mountain (JBM) Coffee on arrival at all ports which began with the inaugural visit of the Norwegian Bliss. This gesture will help increase brand awareness and the sale of locally grown premium coffee to international markets,” Minister Bartlett added.

KINGSTON, Jamaica; January 09, 2020: Tourism Minister Hon. Edmund Bartlett says passengers onboard the Norwegian Bliss, which is set to dock in Ocho Rios tomorrow, will all receive a cup of Jamaica Blue Mountain (JBM) Coffee on arrival.

The gesture marks the start of a new initiative, by the Tourism Ministry and key stakeholders, to have JBM offered to all cruise passengers disembarking at Jamaica’s main ports. It is being organized to help increase brand awareness and sale of locally grown premium coffee to international markets.

“Tomorrow when the Norwegian Bliss arrives in Ocho Rios we will begin the programme I announced last year of having coffee tastings at the cruise ports, when cruise ships arrive in Jamaica.  So 4,000 cruisers and 1,700 crew members will arrive tomorrow and they will all get a cup of our Jamaican Coffee,” said Minister

The Minister made this announcement earlier today, during the launch of the third staging of the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival, at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston.

He shared that the new marketing initiative for coffee would also include having the product featured at all international events that the Ministry of Tourism and the Jamaica Tourist Board will participate in this year.

“We are going to be inserting the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee in the marketing arrangements for upcoming tradeshows. In fact, we actually used it recently at our display in Japan.

Now we are going to Berlin in March, for ITB, and we are going to establish there, the start of our coffee tasting arrangements, which will now be a feature of all our tourism exhibitions at tradeshows across the world,” said Minister Bartlett.

As the Ministry seeks to target new markets to visit the island, the Tourism Minister added that the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival would be a key part of their promotion for March arrivals.

“This festival is not just an event, it is a product. After two years, we have been able to learn a lot, hone our skills in putting this arrangement together and to package it. Now we are at a position where we can create this product, which can be inserted in the market and be tied into marketing packages that we will be selling to our visitors,” he said.

The Minister said that initiatives like the coffee festival builds sustainability in the tourism sector by integrating events, businesses and communities in a way that creates jobs, builds local economies and spreads tourism’s benefits beyond the traditional resort areas.

“In celebrating coffee, we are also seeing it as a huge driver of economic wellbeing. Not only is it a commodity for export and for trading in general, not only is it a means of income for a large number of small and large farmers, but it is also a catalyst that enables a number of  other economic activities to happen and a wider range of employment for a number of other people,” he said.

The Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival is a three-day signature event led by the Tourism Linkages Network and other key partners.  It includes a Farmers Trade Day, Marketplace Day and the Jamaica Blue Mountain Culinary Trail Brunch.

Last year’s Marketplace Day was a sold-out event with over 1200 patrons.  It included some 50 Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises (SMTEs) – such as purveyors of coffee-infused spa products like soaps, body scrubs and butters as well as producers of delicious coffee-infused foods from chicken to sweet treats.

This year’s event will take place from March 20 – 22, in Newcastle, St. Andrew.