KINGSTON, Jamaica; March 13, 2018: Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett says that a number of key global personalities and professionals are expressing interest to participate, at a very high level, in structuring the region’s first Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre.

The centre, which was first announced during last year’s staging of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Global Conference, will be tasked with creating, producing and generating toolkits, guidelines and policies to handle the recovery process for states affected by disasters such as earthquakes, cybercrimes and cyber-attacks, terrorism and health issues that are pandemic or epidemic.

The Minister, who is currently in London, met with representatives from Bournemouth University and Jacob Media Group who expressed interest in the concept of the centre.

“I think that the centre will begin as a research and development centre, but it will be strengthened by technical capabilities as well as information and data management and communication,” said Minister Bartlett.

He further noted that “a marketing element is intended also, but the critical area will be ensuring that countries, around the world and particularly the Caribbean, are provided with as many tools, technical information and some levels of funding for mitigation activities and for management systems.”

The centre will be housed at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus and will include a Sustainable Tourism Observatory, which will assist preparedness, management and recovery of crises which impact tourism and threaten economies and livelihoods.

The UNWTO will spearhead with Jamaica the building out of the facility and assist in the solicitation of resources from a number of multilateral partners and other countries that have an interest in resilience building.

Berlin, GERMANY; March 11, 2018: Tourism Minister, the Hon. Edmund Bartlett, on Friday met with the leadership of German based AIDA Cruises to position the historic Port Royal community as a viable cruise option in the near future. AIDA Cruises is now one of eleven brands operated by the Carnival Group, which caters to the German-speaking market and regularly calls in Montego Bay.

The discussion and push to have Port Royal become the next big cruise ship option is very timely, as Jamaica recently contracted the floating pier system, SeaWalk, to be used at historic Port Royal, which will open the opportunity for cruise ships to this destination without negatively impacting its fragile environment.” Minister Bartlett said.

This forms part of the Ministry of Tourism’s overall Cruise marketing, which is a key initiative to strategically boost cruise arrivals.  Cruise Passenger Arrivals grew by 21.3% for the month of January, with 249,690 passengers from 85 cruise ship calls. 

“The rich history of this once powerful city will pull many travellers who are fascinated by its pirate background and charm. Of course the plan now is for smaller vessels, one at a time” - Minister Bartlett added.

Minister Bartlett, who attended ITB Germany, the world’s largest tourism tradeshow, was joined by Director of Tourism, Jamaica Tourist Board, Donovan White and Senior Advisor/Strategist, Delano Seiveright.

Berlin, Germany – March 8, 2018: As Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett’s aggressive European Tourism growth strategy continues to take root, he today confirmed with Eurowings officials that once weekly scheduled nonstop flights between the German city of Munich and Montego Bay, Jamaica will commence on July 18 of this year.

The airline is already aggressively promoting on its website www.eurowings.com fares of between US$500 and US$1,000 for a roundtrip ticket between Germany and Jamaica. Fares are open to everyone including Jamaicans wanting to travel to Europe.

“Munich is one of the largest and wealthiest cities in Europe and capital of the German state of Bavaria, base for some of the biggest companies in the world including BMW, Audi, Puma and Adidas. The state has a population of 13 million and Munich Airport is one of Europe’s busiest hubs with many from neighbouring countries like Switzerland, Austria, Italy and the Czech Republic connecting through there. It is a very important development for Jamaica.” – Bartlett said.

Bartlett is in Berlin, Germany for the ITB global tourism tradeshow, the largest of its kind in the world, attracting around 109,000 visitors and 10,000 exhibitors to trade stands, talks and workshops. He is joined by Director of Tourism, Donovan White; Senior Advisor/ Strategist, Delano Seiveright and European based JTB officials.  

Seiveright noted that, “Jamaica recorded a roughly 44 percent growth in German stopover visitors for 2017 over the previous year, moving from 20,768 to 29,858. Bartlett early last year as part of the European tourism growth plan is pushing for 50,000 German tourists per annum within the next 2 to 3 years. He added that Jamaica received in 2017 a record 325,804 European tourists approximately 31,000 more than the previous year.”

The news comes on the heels of Minister Bartlett’s announcement two days before from Milan, Italy, that that nation’s largest tour operator, Alpitour, owner of leisure airline Neos, is to increase the number of seats into Montego Bay, Jamaica from Italy using a new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft starting May of this year. Laurent Parent, a Senior Executive for Alpitour World confirmed with Bartlett and his team that it will also continue its once weekly flight between the Italian city of Verona and Montego Bay and noted increasing demand for Montego Bay as a vacation spot.

In addition to meeting with travel industry stakeholders in Italy, Bartlett  and his team also met with Campari Group Chairman and Italian Billionaire, Luca Garavoglia, at the multinational giant’s Milan, Italy headquarters as he seeks to develop an innovative marketing and collaborative partnership with the corporate giant that spent over US$500 million in the purchase of J. Wray and Nephew and other investments including US$7.2 million in the Joy Spence Appleton Estate Rum Experience in St. Elizabeth.

In the meantime, Jamaica continues to benefit from two scheduled weekly flights by Eurowings between the German city of Cologne/Bonn and Montego Bay. The additional flight between Munich and Montego Bay will rise to three nonstop flights per week between Germany and Jamaica by Eurowings. Montego Bay also benefits from roughly three weekly charter flights between the German cities of Frankfurt and Munich and Montego Bay by German leisure airline Condor.   

In its promotional literature to German and other Europeans about Montego Bay, Eurowings noted that “Montego Bay (MBJ) offers not only beautiful sand beaches along a golden coast, but also a wealth of lodging, bars, restaurants and shops for every taste. You'll also find sophisticated marinas and world-class golf courses."

KINGSTON, Jamaica; March 06, 2018: Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett has expressed deep sadness at the passing of Dittie Guise, General Manager of the Montego Bay Convention Centre.

Guise, who died on Tuesday March 06, 2018, has held various senior roles within the hospitality industry across the globe. She was previously the Chief Operating Officer at the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority; General Manager at SMG-Greater Columbus Convention Center; and President/General Manager at Homkar Inc-Kansas City Market Center.

“The tourism family today mourns the loss of a really outstanding public servant, conference organiser and indeed one of the finest convention centre administrators in these parts. We mourn her passing and wish for her family and loved ones – especially her husband Kenneth, the entire family of SMG, as well as the staff of the Montego Bay Convention Centre – God’s blessing and guidance during this very difficult hour. We hope indeed that her soul will rest in peace,” said Minister Bartlett.

Guise was highly-respected by the staff at the Montego Bay Convention Centre, who have shared that she was very instrumental in the start-up and growth of the facility since April 2011.

“Coming back to Jamaica was in fact for her a great moment of excitement and a great opportunity to give back to her native country. But, more importantly she took pride in managing a facility which is new to this country – we have never had a convention centre of this size magnitude,” said the Minister.

He also lauded Guise’s contribution to the success of the UNWTO, Government of Jamaica and World Bank Group Conference on Jobs and Inclusive Growth: Partnerships for Sustainable Tourism, which was held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre last November.

“The good results that we had last year for the first ever global conference on job creation and inclusive growth and public private partnership, was a full testimony of how much Dittie has done and how far we have come in terms of positioning ourselves as a centre for large events. What she did was to really give a presence to Jamaica as a destination where big meetings, conventions, exhibitions and cerebrations of all kinds, could in fact take place. Thanks to her contribution, we have witnessed how the Convention Centre has morphed into a really spectacular national facility, as well as a global location where big meetings and large events are being held,” he said.