KINGSTON, Jamaica; January 04, 2018:  Tourism Minister, Hon Edmund Bartlett has announced that highly regarded tourism security expert, Dr Peter Tarlow, will arrive on the island on Sunday to join the team carrying out the intensive security audit of the tourism sector.

The audit of all hotels and attractions is being led by the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCO), as part of efforts to ramp up the island’s destination assurance programme.

“I look forward to welcoming Dr Tarlow to the island, as his visit comes at a crucial point in the development of our product. We must safeguard the key aspects of destination assurance such as security, safety and seamlessness of our tourism product.

Dr Tarlow and the team will help us take a step in the right direction and provide insight in legislation that may be implemented to make the industry safer, as well as help us develop a new programme on how to better relate and interact with international guests,” said the Minister.

Dr Tarlow, as well as Global Rescue — a leading global provider of medical evacuation, repatriation and security extraction services for individuals, enterprises and governments — will join the audit and partner with Jamaica's tourism Destination Assurance Managers to construct a new architecture for tourism ethics and visitor safety.

The Tourism Working Group, which was recently established by Minister Bartlett to conduct a comprehensive review of issues in the sector, and is headed by PriceWaterhouseCoopers Senior Partner, Wilfred Baghaloo, will also be a part of the process. 

The security audit, which is to be completed by the first half of 2019, will identify gaps and ensure that the destination remains safe, secure and seamless for visitors and locals alike.

Security arrangements are part of the licensing requirements for many sector operators and significant weakness or breaches will result in tough sanctions. So far, over eight properties have been audited.

During his visit, Dr Tarlow will: conduct preliminary data assessment and conclusion; provide an overview of survey instrumentation and application methodologies and develop key performance indicators. He will also conduct a Tourism Safety and Security Seminar for relevant stakeholders.

Dr Tarlow is a scholar in the area of tourism safety, a consultant for the tourism industry, and the founder of Tourism & More Inc. He is the author of ‘Event Risk Management and Safety’ and teaches 'tourism safety' to police chiefs around the world.

He has also worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the United Nations World Tourism Organization among other recognized institutions.

KINGSTON, Jamaica; December 27, 2018:  Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett says Jamaica saw record arrivals and earnings for the period December 21-24, 2018. Preliminary airport arrivals was 34,081, an increase of 12.8% over the corresponding period in 2017. The estimated gross earnings stands at USD51, 240,784 which represents a 17.1% increase over last year.

“This is excellent news and shows the strength of Jamaica’s tourism product. We expected a record season and the numbers highlight this fact.

Arrivals from our source markets have been growing apace and we have been strategically engaging new and emerging markets to add to this growth,” said Minister Bartlett.

Thousands of additional airline seats were negotiated for the 2018-2019 ‘High Season’ in December, out of North America, Canada, the UK and Northern Europe.

In addition, several new flights made their landing at the Sangster International Airport out of Eastern Europe, including Eurowings, Pegas Fly and Nordwind, as well as Canadian airlines Westjet, Sunwing and Swoop. While Copa Airlines increased to daily its service between Panama City, its main hub, and Montego Bay.
Latam Airlines Group also announced Nonstop Direct Flights from Peru to Montego Bay beginning July 2019 and Frontier Airlines, one of the newest routes out of the United States, made its inaugural flight on November 17, 2018.

“Airlift remains a key strategy in achieving our growth targets of 5million visitors and US5billion by 2021 and the numbers show that we are well on our way to meeting these targets,

By the end of the year it is expected that the country will welcome well over 4.3million visitors and earn US3.3Billion,” added Minister Bartlett. 

KINGSTON, Jamaica; December 18, 2018: Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett is reiterating the country's commitment to ensuring a safe, secure and seamless destination to all visitors who come to the country.

In that context, Minister Bartlett says, “A full scale review is being done of all the protocols and ethical arrangements within the industry in keeping with the changes that are taking place in the demographics as well as the new markets that are emerging. Jamaica must stand at the cusp of these changes and must be leaders in ensuring that tourism safety and security is enhanced at all times. 

As a result we have brought technical advice and support from international experts in tourism security like Peter Tarlow and Global Rescue and they will coalesce with our local tourism destination assurance experts to craft a new architecture for tourism ethics and visitor safety in Jamaica.”

As part of efforts to ramp up its destination assurance programme, the Ministry through the Tourism Product Development Company, has started an island wide security audit of all hotels and attractions. Joining this audit is highly regarded international expert, Dr. Peter Tarlow who will provide technical support. The report from this review is to be ready by the first quarter of 2019.

Subsequently, Minister Bartlett has also indicated that more stringent rules and legislation will be put in place to ensure the safety, security and seamlessness of the island’s tourism product.

“The confidence of any destination rests on ensuring the safety, security and seamlessness of both visitors and locals alike. We are making not just a statement but a commitment that where we find breaches or infractions in the sector, we will as a destination respond and act strongly.

Breaches of security of any kind are aberrations that the destination will not tolerate and will treat with accordingly. We do not condone these acts and are working assiduously to correct these breaches through stricter regulations which will include withdrawal of licenses in some instances,” Minister Bartlett added.

MONTEGO BAY, St. James; December 17, 2018:   As part of preparations for what is expected to be a record winter tourist season, Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett yesterday unveiled twenty (20) new automated kiosks. The automated kiosks, which were donated by the Passport Immigration and Citizens Agency, were unveiled at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay.

Speaking at the unveiling, Minister Bartlett said the initiative would ensure better facilitation and seamlessness for the hundreds of thousands of visitors expected for the period and beyond.

Minister Bartlett said, "This is the start of the traditional high season which we expect to be a record breaking winter season. One of the reasons for this record growth comes from the fact that we have 120thousand new seats from destinations around the world, 89thousand of which are from our main source market, the U.S.

The United States provides 65% of Jamaica's stopover arrivals and with cruise arrivals the total is approximately 80% of arrivals to the island.

"So if we grow phenomenally from our main source market, growth will be secured so this winter season will grow and we are expecting growth in the region of 5% and we are excited about that," Minister Bartlett added.

Speaking to air connectivity, which is the second leg of growth that will boost the winter tourist season, Minister Bartlett said, “Air connectivity is a major strategy to increase arrivals and we have been aggressively pursuing new markets and gateways and today we have received the latest flight out of Canada, the inaugural Swoop airlines out of Hamilton which saw a full flight of 196 passengers. This will help us to grow our Canadian market and add to the many other air connectivity arrangements that have come on stream recently.”

Jamaica has acquired new airlift, working with the airlines to ensure an adequate number of seats to meet the growing demand arising from our efforts to increase arrivals out of our traditional visitor markets of the United States, Canada and England while expanding into new markets like Latin America and Eastern Europe. 

Thousands of additional airline seats were negotiated for the 2018-2019 ‘High Season’ in December, out of North America, Canada, the UK and Northern Europe.
In addition, several new flights made their landing at the Sangster International Airport out of Eastern Europe, including Eurowings, Pegas Fly and Nordwind, as well as Canadian airlines Westjet and Sunwing. While Copa Airlines increased to daily its service between Panama City, its main hub, and Montego Bay.
 
Latam Airlines Group also announced Nonstop Direct Flights from Peru to Montego Bay beginning July 2019 and Frontier Airlines, one of the newest routes out of the United States, made its inaugural flight on November 17, 2018.

Preliminary data shows that the country will welcome well over 4.3million visitors and earn US3.3Billion by the end of the year.

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica, Friday, December 14, 2018: In an effort to induce more investment in shopping and get more tourism dollars from that attraction, a new regulation will be introduced by the Ministry of Tourism next year.

Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett announced yesterday that, “Cabinet is to consider the presentation shortly and we are sure that in the first quarter of next year the new Shopping Regulation and Regime will be in place.”

He was speaking yesterday at the inaugural staging of ‘Style Jamaica’, a fashion event created by the Ministry of Tourism’s Linkages Network to promote the exciting creations of Jamaican designers.  The event was staged inside the Shoppes of Rose Hall mall.

With Jamaica having 4.3 million tourists last year, cruise accounted for only US$37 million of expenditure for shopping, representing three percent of the total value of the experience. According to Minister Bartlett, “Something is radically wrong with the shopping and we have to fix it.” He backed that up with the fact that “for stopover arrivals we just had about US$36 million which was about one percent of the US$3 billion that we earned from tourism last year.”

He disclosed that the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Finance had been examining this closely “and a comprehensive review has just been completed by both ministries and new architecture for the shopping sector in Jamaica is to emerge.”

The new regime will also look at broadening the schedule of dutiable items “to allow for textile and leather and other such mediums to be used to provide the necessary articles and artefacts that are required for shopping.”

Minister Bartlett said the new Shopping Regulation and Regime “will allow us to invite the big brands to come into Jamaica. But it will also allow for us to broaden the scope of creativity within our own space so that we can produce more exciting items that will be saleable to the tourism market.”

The Tourism Minister is of the view that achieving this will allow for more people to be employed in the subsector with the revenue generated giving the country a decisive boost.

He said the ‘Style Jamaica’ activity represented part of a wider process of sensitization “to the quality of the creative outputs and the cultural assets which we have to merchandise in Jamaica.”

While setting the framework for better merchandising, Minister Bartlett also underscored the importance of attracting more investment in shopping with bigger, more exciting malls with branded stores and items in department stores.

“This is how shopping is built. It is built first of all on an integrity in the destination,” he said, adding that he wanted to give credit to the duty free shopping segment “that has built that integrity over the years so that people can rely on good quality and also to get value for their money.”

KINGSTON, Jamaica; December 14, 2018:  The Tourism Agri-Linkages Exchange (ALEX) pilot project has assisted 400 local farmers with the marketing of approximately 360,000 kg of agricultural produce valued at over $39 million.

ALEX, which is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Tourism and the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA), is the first online platform of its kind in the country. It brings hoteliers in direct contact with the farmers and, in turn, reduce leakages and retain more of the economic benefits of tourism in Jamaica.

The platform, which can be found at agrilinkages.com, allows farmers to plan to adequately address seasonality in crops; and provide information as it relates to geographic location of specific crops.

Speaking on Wednesday, at the opening of the Tourism Agri-Linkages Exchange (ALEX) Centre, housed at RADA’s St Andrew office, Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett said, “We are excited about this initiative because it removes the issues of the communication gaps that exist. It puts us in a position to say that wherever the farmers are, they can produce and sell to the hotels because ALEX is there to connect you.”

He also noted that, “It will remove the arguments from the hoteliers who say ‘I don’t know where your goods are or I don’t know who your farmers are.’ It invites a level of organization, so that even though ALEX will connect individual farmers, the logic of the arrangement will suggest that farmers can come together and create a critical mass that will enable a certitude of flows into the industry at all times.” 

The Minister also used the opportunity to encourage farmers to develop the capacity to produce more goods at a quality standard and price to remain competitive.

“We can produce far more…but the cost of producing the goods and services in Jamaica have to change radically so that we can be competitive. Price competitiveness is critical to be able to absorb the demand of tourism and other industries of this nature.

We can always talk about what can be done, but we have to create the mechanism to enable it to happen. Our costs must be lower. Our prices must be competitive. Our quality must be at the highest level and our availability to supply must be consistent,” said the Minister.

Commenting on the success of the initiative, RADA’s CEO Peter Thompson, shared that since the inception of ALEX, the number of participants and success stories are continuously growing.

“We had targeted 200 farmers in the pilot but we have achieved 400. The number of buyers and traders we have targeted was 80 but we are now at 100.  We have networked with 55 hotels, 8 exporters, 7 restaurants, 20 agro-processors and 10 supermarkets. The numbers are still growing,” said Thompson.  

The Ministry of Tourism, through the Tourism Enhancement Fund renovated the ALEX Centre and contracted a developer for the website at a cost of $7,728,400.

Through this exchange centre, farmers will have access to a physical space dedicated to calling or emailing the produce they have available to supply the tourism sector. The Centre will then market this information to the hospitality sector and provide support to other key agricultural stakeholders. 

The Minister noted that the ultimate goal will be to increase by 20% the number of farmers having continuous trade relationship with the hotel and tourism sector and decrease by 15% the imports of fresh produce to the hotel and tourism sector.

KINGSTON, Jamaica; December 12, 2018:  Minister of Tourism Hon. Edmund Bartlett today (December 12) committed $100 million to the redevelopment of the 40-acre Alpha Campus.  The allocation will come from the Ministry’s Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) in tranches of $20 million over five years.

Minister Bartlett made the announcement to a standing ovation as he gave the keynote address at the soft launch of the Alpha Mercy Historical Centre at the South Camp Road Alpha campus. 

This financial commitment is in addition to a TEF contribution of $11 million towards Phase 1 of the building of the Alpha Mercy Historical Centre.  It is a “community and heritage’ tourism product aimed at highlighting the history of the Sisters of Mercy and illustrating their significant contribution and impact on the cultural, social, religious and educational development of Jamaica for more than 136 years.

In lauding Alpha and its phenomenal contribution to Jamaica’s development, Minister Bartlett said, “We have to look at how we build on that tradition.  We have to look at how we extend that legacy and how we create more visitor experiences, more revenue and more capital development of the humanspirit.”

In addition, the Tourism Minister pledged his commitment to work with Mayor of Kingston and St. Andrew, Councillor Delroy Williams to make a reality his vision to redevelop Downtown Kingston‘s 'Parade' as a pedestrian only zone to add value to the city’s tourism product and increase commerce.  “It is a vision that encapsulates my vision and we will meet the first working week of January to complete this discussion we began here today,” said Minister Bartlett.

“The city of Kingston’s time has come and we are committed to seeing it through,” he continued, while noting big plans for Kingston and Port Royal and pledging his commitment to building out the experiences and making Jamaica, through these two gateways, the Pearl of the Caribbean.

Minister Bartlett also noted that TEF has spent some $1.7 billion over the last five years to restore and develop historic sites and monuments across Jamaica.

He concluded by saying, “It will be my delight to help position the Alpha Mercy Historical Centre in the bigger picture of Destination Kingston as we to seek to build out Kingston as a city tourism experience for food, entertainment, and culture but most importantly to continuously tell a story and what a wonderful story Alpha is.”

The redevelopment plan for the Alpha Campus will directly benefit the four thousand children who are educated in the five institutions located in the campus, while over 18,000 individuals and families will be indirectly impacted by the plans.

It will include a new School of Music at the Alpha Institute offering a four-year Associate Degree Programme in music; a new primary school for 1000 children that will incorporate ‘technology based’ education; a Performing and Visual Arts Centre for Girls; a new science lab for the Alpha Convent of Mercy Academy; and an Amphitheatre for entertainment. In addition, there will be widened roadways and new entrances to the property.

KINGSTON, Jamaica; December 11, 2018:  Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett has offered condolences to the family of former Minister of Tourism, Senator Donald Frank McKenzie Pringle, who died yesterday, at the age of 88.

“On behalf of the Government of Jamaica, I offer my condolences to the family and loved ones of Ambassador Pringle – especially his daughter, Kerstin and two grandchildren, Israel and Isabell.

The tourism industry has certainly suffered an extreme loss and we remain very grateful for the invaluable contribution he has made to the development of the sector,” said Minister Bartlett.

Senator Pringle was a Cabinet Member and Minister of Tourism from 1989 to 1992, while also serving as senator. He was also a Member of the Jamaica Tourist Board, Director on the Board of Air Jamaica, as well as Jamaica’s representative to the Executive Council of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

“Senator Pringle dedicated much of his life to Jamaica’s tourism industry, serving both in the public and private sector. He was very passionate about the growth of our tourism product and did an incredible job to ensure that our industry was not only successful, but that it also benefited the people of the country. He was selfless, always putting country above himself and saw the vision of how far tourism could go. His legacy is indelibly etched in our history and will be remembered for years to come,” said the Minister.

Over the years, Ambassador Pringle has served as a diplomat, Justice of the Peace and a member of the Jamaica Parish Council. He was also the Founder and Director of The Tryall Club and founder and President of the Jamaica Association of Villas and Apartments.

Additionally, he was involved in the founding of Round Hill Hotel & Villas, and served as aide-de-camp to the Governor-General.

“It was my hope to honour Ambassador Pringle, while he was alive at the Golden Tourism Day Award Ceremony taking place on Sunday. His sudden passing indeed came as quite a surprise and I am very saddened to know he is no longer with us,” said the Minister.

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica, Sunday, December 9, 2018: Jamaica’s first regulated casino should be up and running by the start of 2020 but Jamaica will not be a casino destination.

This was disclosed Friday (December 7) by Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett as he wrapped up remarks at a seminar on Hospitality Industry and Casino Operator’s Guide to Managing U.S. Liability Issues from the Caribbean, at Sandals Montego Bay.

While not giving details on the first casino, Mr. Bartlett spoke of the contribution casino gaming is expected to make to the Jamaican economy as an addition to the tourism product, providing 2 percent to GDP growth.

“We have shied away from gaming as a structured path of the tourism experience for a long time for a number of reasons, one of which has been the experiences that we have looked at in other places and we have seen some of the attendant negatives and we question very much whether or not we would be able ourselves to manage and be able to deal with the negative impact of it,” said Minister Bartlett.

Additionally, he said there has been very strong religious consideration, but as a government, a concerted decision was taken “that we wanted to take a deeper dive in this area because it does provide a lucrative element of the tourism product and that it had the potential to drive growth to a level that would put Jamaica where it ought to in terms of the level required to generate additional GDP growth.”

The Tourism Minister said it was felt that 3 million stopover visitors and earning of US$3 billion would be a key point spurred on by casino gaming but those figures have already been surpassed with 4.3 million visitors last year without the lure of a casino but because of extraordinary effort.

“The fact is that casino for Jamaica is not a requirement for our growth but within the context of the integrated development model, casino gaming is a driver for exponential growth so we do not see Jamaica ever becoming a casino destination but rather a destination in which casino gaming is available,“ said Minister Bartlett.

Having considered that three casino gaming licenses would be granted, Mr. Bartlett said “Casinos should represent no more than 20 percent of the value of the experience that is offered as the integrated development arrangement.” Construction of a minimum of 1,000 rooms and US1 billion in investment have been laid down as the minimum that goes with a casino license.

Elaborating on the arrangement, he said “The casino must come with shopping, entertainment, with music and with maritime experiences and a whole range of other experiences because we wanted to make sure that the balance remained, so that there wouldn’t be stand-alone casino arrangement all over Jamaica.”

Minister Bartlett welcomed the seminar hosted by US law firm, Kaufman Dolovic Voluck in association with Montego Bay attorneys Clayton Morgan & Company, noting that it was a good moment to examine the implication and legal ramifications. He was therefore interested in the outcome of the seminar “as we look now not only on what the legal implications are and particularly as a country that is closest to the more celebrated casino areas in the western world, including Las Vegas.”

KINGSTON, Jamaica; December 5, 2018:   Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett says that Álvaro Uribe, former President of Colombia, is the keynote speaker for the ‘Global Conference on Jobs and Inclusive Growth – Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises (SMTE)’, scheduled to take place next January.

“I am very pleased to announce that President Uribe will be our keynote speaker for our very important conference. He has a strong track record of encouraging small and medium enterprises and has used this as a tool, to deal with some of the security issues they had dealing with the cartels and so on,” said the Minister during a recent press conference at the Ministry of Tourism’s New Kingston Office.

The conference is being hosted by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in partnership with the Government of Jamaica, at the Montego Bay Convention Centre, on January 29, 2019.

It will seek to build the capacity of local tourism suppliers by way of strategic sessions that will focus on issues affecting suppliers and ways to fix them.

The Minister stressed that as a result of Jamaica’s global petitioning for small entrepreneurs in tourism, the conference will be attended by major international players in the industry.

“We are expecting representation from all the countries within the Caribbean, and some of South America and Latin America, where the Organization of American States has relationships,” said the Minister.

He also added that major global institutions have responded in a major way to provide the much-needed assistance for Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises.

 “The OAS has come on board with a programme for the first time in its history, which is going to be unfolded in our conference in January next year in Montego Bay. They have put together US $500,000 to be made available to SMTEs in the Caribbean.

This was a direct response to the global conference Jamaica hosted last November, where one of the three outcomes was to establish SMTE projects around the world. This is significant because 80% of tourism is driven by SMTEs but only 20 % of the benefits from the industry is returned to them,” said the Minister.  

The conference coincides with two major tourism events - the Caribbean Marketplace Expo, which is the signature tradeshow for tourism in the region and the launch of the Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre.

Álvaro Uribe, is a Colombian politician who served as the 31st President of Colombia from August 2002 to August 2010.