KINGSTON, Jamaica; January 19, 2018 – Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, the Hon. Edmund Bartlett would like to reassure visitors that Jamaica remains safe during the State of Public Emergency for the Parish of St. James. The action taken by the Government is not arbitrary as it required a great deal of strategic planning.

“The present state of global security has created a heightened sense of awareness in travelers,” said Minister Bartlett. “These enhanced security measures are not out of the ordinary in international tourism markets and therefore would be understood by visitors and welcomed by residents.”

The Jamaican citizenry have been supportive of this action with a resident from the affected area declaring, “This is the best thing that could have happened at this time. It is like a belated Christmas gift.”

“All members of the tourism fraternity have given their full support to the measure and are feeling that these actions are welcome to ensure the safety of Jamaica’s guests and citizens,” added Minister Bartlett.

What is a State of Public Emergency

·         A State of Public Emergency is a tool to ensure enhanced security for all entering and leaving a particular geographic area.

·         Law enforcement agents are trained in human rights and will appropriately interact with all persons.

·         Persons may be stopped at various check points and asked for information to verify identity.

·         There is no need to modify movements as restrictions in the stated areas should not adversely impact law abiding persons.

·         All business activities will function as normal including all airports, cruise ports, hotels, and attractions

Jamaica remains a safe place for tourists and the statistics reflect this fact. Jamaica’s overall crime rate in respect to crimes against visitors is .01%. 

Every year, Jamaica welcomes visitors and volunteers from around the world to enjoy all that Jamaica has to offer. Provisional data shows a record breaking 4.3 million tourists visited Jamaica in 2017, which represents a 12.1 per cent increase over arrivals in 2016.

KINGSTON, Jamaica; January 16, 2018:  Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett says, newly-appointed Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Zurab Pololikashvili, has pledged his full support for the establishment of the first Global Tourism Resilience Centre in Jamaica.

The centre, which was first announced during the recently concluded UNWTO Global Conference at the Montego Bay Convention Centre, St. James, will be tasked with creating, producing and generating toolkits, guidelines and policies to handle the recovery process.

It will also include a Sustainable Tourism Observatory, which will assist preparedness, management and recovery of crises which impact tourism and threaten economies and livelihoods.

The Minister, who met with the Secretary General on January 15 at the UNWTO Headquarters in Madrid, shared that “The UNWTO will spearhead with us the building out of the facility. They will also assist in the solicitation of resources from a number of multilateral partners and other countries that have an interest in resilience building.

They will also help us to target countries that have similar vulnerabilities as us in the Caribbean and have some experience in building capacity to deal with disruptive events such as as hurricanes like the ones we had recently, earthquakes, cybercrimes and cyber-attacks, terrorism and health issues that are pandemic or epidemic.”

The Minister also disclosed that the UNWTO will be using Jamaica as a model — particularly the five key networks of the Tourism Linkages initiative which includes: Gastronomy; Shopping; Entertainment and Sports; Health and Wellness; and Knowledge.

“Jamaica has set a pace and the UNWTO has bought into our concept. We are very pleased that they will be looking at expanding and developing the Jamaican tourism model as a prototype for the rest of the world,” said the Minister.

Zurab Pololikashvili was elected by consensus at the 22nd UNWTO General Assembly being held in Chengdu, China, following the recommendation of the 105th UNWTO Executive Council. He is the current Ambassador of Georgia to Spain, Morocco, Algeria and Andorra and will serve as Secretary General for the period 2018-2021. 

Minister Bartlett is currently in Madrid, Spain with his junior advisor Gis’elle Jones. They are scheduled to return to the island on January 17, 2018.

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica; Monday, January 15, 2018: Parish Court judges have been made more aware of the critical role they can play in building confidence for the safety and security of visitors to the island.

Through the Ministry of Tourism, the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo), hosted a two-day workshop for parish judges at the Montego Bay Convention Centre. The workshop aimed at informing them of the impact of tourism on the national economy and how the issue of harassment can derail the industry.

Emphasizing that visitors pay for an experience when they come here and that their presence positively impact “a series of moving parts,”, Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett said, “We have to protect them because it impacts so many people and so many of us can disrupt the seamlessness of this experience.”

He told the parish judges, “All of us have to become a part of the custody of this product.”

The Tourism Minister underscored the link between tourism and other sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing in the value chain, and said “the mission therefore is for us to build our capacity to produce those things that services the export so as to retain the dollar.”

Notwithstanding the importance of what is being offered, Minister Bartlett said the quality of the experience of the visitor was more about “the warmth and the hospitality and the feeling of safety, security and seamlessness and 60 percent of the value of the experience of the visitor is about that.”

It was important for all Jamaicans to make visitors feel comfortable and safe, he underscored while acknowledging that infractions against them were very low, “cultural differences can impact negatively on us if we aren’t au fait with how the people feel.” He cited that Jamaicans being a ‘touchy’ people, exuded a lot of hugging and warmth but that for many people, can be a huge turn off.

Minister Bartlett said, TPDCo was seeking to help in a cultural realignment to make those who sell their wares to visitors realize that badgering as a marketing strategy is not acceptable to everybody and there was a need “to engage more subtle marketing practices.”

He told the parish judges that “the visitor is not going to be terribly unhappy because of the cultural practices; what he’s going to be terribly unhappy about, is if he’s offended and he’s annoyed, and he’s even abused in the process, there seems to be no recourse. He feels that it falls on deaf ears when it becomes plain as day.”

Moreover, he stressed, even when action was taken, “They feel that the result of the action is way below acceptable standards.”

Minister Bartlett said everyone needed to see themselves as custodians of tourism and not just those directly involved in the sector, noting there was a need “for the country to better understand because there are people saying that tourism contributes little to the economy.”

Debunking that line of thinking, Minister Bartlett pointed out that last year the country recorded a near 2 percent growth and “tourism was the main performer and the highest contributor to the growth that we experienced.”

He said the sector now employed 117,000 workers directly, representing close to 10 percent of total national employment. Employment in the sector rose by 11,000 last year.

Also, last year, with a record-breaking 4.3 million visitors giving a 12.1 percent increase in visitor arrivals and US$.3 billion in earnings, there was a 6 percent increase by the sector to GDP, “and that was the largest of all sectors.”

KINGSTON, Jamaica; January 12, 2018:  Efforts to boost cooperation between Jamaica and Mexico, in the area of tourism, will bear fruit as both countries will sign a memorandum of understanding to concretize a multi-destination marketing arrangement, in Madrid, Spain on January 16, 2018.

The move forms part of a greater plan to jointly market Jamaica to the international community this year, with other countries such as Cuba and the Dominican Republic, with whom similar arrangements have already been signed.  

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett shared that the arrangement will inevitably lead to sustainable growth and will be beneficial to all parties who will gain access to a significantly larger market.

“I am very happy that Jamaica will once again make history with this very important signing of an agreement with Mexico. I know that this will positively impact our economy. It is my hope that it will lead to other important milestones, such as the creation of new pre-clearance arrangements and perhaps relaxed visa restrictions,” said the Minister.

While in Spain, the Minister is also expected to participate in separate business meetings with the newly elected United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) Secretary General Zurab Pololikashvili, and tourism investors who own properties in Jamaica.

“I will be representing the country at the first meeting of the Executive Council of the UNWTO for 2018.  I will also get an opportunity to share how well our region is performing and naturally give a report on the success of our recently concluded UNWTO conference in Montego Bay to our new Secretary General,” said the Minister.

At the 22nd Session of the UNWTO General Assembly in September last year, Jamaica was successful in its bid to share one of the five seats on the Executive Council, that is allocated to the Regional Commission of the Americas for the period 2018-2021. Jamaica is expected to sit on the Executive Council for the period 2018 and 2019. 

Minister Bartlett, who will be accompanied by his junior advisor Gis’elle Jones, is scheduled to depart Jamaica tomorrow, January 13 and return on January 17, 2018. 

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica, Tuesday, January 9, 2018: Jamaica closed out its 2017 tourism year, shattering all previous records for the fast-growing industry.

“Last year was a signature year for growth in tourism; we ended the year with 4.3 million visitors coming to Jamaica. That wasn’t an ordinary record because it meant that nearly 500,000 more visitors came to Jamaica in a single year, which has never happened anywhere in this part of the Anglophobe Caribbean,” disclosed Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett today.

His remarks coincided with the signing of a US$40 million loan agreement between MBJ Airports Limited, operator of the Sangster International Airport and SIA, and Scotiabank to expand and upgrade some areas of the airport.

Minister Bartlett said last year’s growth in arrivals eclipsed the total increase of the previous four years. Also, foreign exchange earnings for the year reached approximately US$3 billion and “that means that even at a 30 percent retention, US$1 billion has been in circulation the pockets of Jamaicans as a result of the performance last year.”

He intimated that this contributed to the stability and appreciation of the Jamaican dollar.

As the growth trend continued into 2018, Minister Bartlett is elated that “the year has started with a bang; notwithstanding the freezing of the North and the closing of key airports in the whole North-eastern seaboard, which is the breadbasket for us, in our first week we had a 5.7 percent growth in arrivals.”

Noting that 37,000 of them came through the airport, Mr Bartlett attested that “the expansion for MBJ is very timely and we can’t wait as the Custom Halls and Immigration section are bursting at the seams and the traffic is heavy.”

Chief Executive Officer of MBJ Airports, Dr. Rafael Echevarne outlined that the loan would be invested in renovating the ticketing hall, rehabilitating airside pavements, installing new security machines, upgrade systems and acquire specialized equipment to clean the airport.

He disclosed that passenger traffic through the airport had grown from a low of minus 4.4 percent in 2009 to a positive 8.4 percent increase in 2017 which he described as “a spectacular year”. With as many as 8 international flights at any one time   “there are times when we struggle to find space to park the aircraft,” said Dr. Echevarne. He said it also put pressure on many of the government agencies, mainly immigration and customs, operating at the airport.

Meanwhile, Minister of Transport and Mining, Hon Michael Henry said government was working assiduously to advance the aviation sector and underscored that with Sangster International being one of the largest airports in the region providing an experience to visitors, “it is important that we ensure that when they visit they want to come back.”

He spoke of transforming the airport to a world class facility while ensuring “that airports continued compliance to local and international standards of safety and aviation security.”

“With the expansion of the runway it will now be able to facilitate heavy aircraft, taking off from Montego Bay and able to reach as far as Turkey. The airport catchment area is also being increased as a result of the extend runway,” said Minister Henry.

Among those signing the US$40 million loan facility were President and Chief Executive Officer of Scotiabank, David Hall; Minister Henry, Dr. Echevarne and Director of Finance, MBJ Airports, Mrs Julian Ann Palmer.

MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA, Friday, December 15, 2017: The tourism industry started its traditional high season today shattering all previous records for arrivals by welcoming the four millionth visitor to Jamaica for the year.

Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett led a team of officials in a surprise welcome at Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport for Jill Bell of Wisconsin, USA, who with her husband Stephen has been to Jamaica 25 times.

At a VIP reception for the history-making visitor, Minister Bartlett said, “I’m very proud as minister today to be the fortunate one standing in the breach as the four millionth visitor graces the shores of this beautiful country.”

He disclosed that the four million visitors comprised 1.9 million cruise passengers and 2.1 million stop over tourists. Also, he said it was expected that the year would end with about 2.3 million stopovers and 2.1 million cruise arrivals combined, contributing just under US$3 billion to the economy.

Matched against last year’s arrival figures, nearly 500,000 new visitors will be travelling to Jamaica this year for a total of 4.3 million “and that is a record of all records,” said Minister Bartlett. Realization of these numbers would mean an 11.6 percent in arrivals and 11.7 percent increase in earnings over last year. He noted that Jamaica has been experiencing record arrivals since April with double-digit growth each succeeding month since then.

At the same time, the Tourism Minister said there would be 100,000 additional seats for the winter and 4,799 new rooms between now and 2019. “In the next few days, we will be concluding discussions with three major investors for ground-breaking activities that will happen in the first quarter of next year and the long-awaited Karisma development will in fact start construction in April of next year for the first three hotels with 2,500 rooms,” he said.

Minister Bartlett reiterated that Jamaica was building out the capacity of more of the small and medium enterprises to become involved in the tourism value chain because 80 percent of global tourism was driven by small and medium enterprises “and all of the people in Jamaica must feel a little more of the economic impact of tourism.”

Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer of MBJ Airports, Dr Rafael Echevarne said the four percent projected growth in passengers passing through the Sangster International Airport this year had doubled to eight percent. Also, he announced that the board recently approved expenditure of US$40 million for infrastructure improvements, including renovation of the ticketing area, the immigration hall and other public areas. This is in addition to the US$24 million now being spent to improve the apron and taxiway.

Mrs Bell assured that they would be back next year for another Christmas at “our home away from home; it’s our second home as we call it.” Expressing appreciation, she said, “You make us feel welcome and you are part of our family just as how we try to make you a part of our family.”

NEGRIL, Westmoreland, Thursday, December 14, 2017: The Ministry of Tourism’s commitment to sustainable destination management has resulted in 16 primary and high schools in Hanover and Westmoreland collecting 360,000 plastic bottles in less than six months in their communities.

The bottles, weighing 14,686 pounds, were collected as part of the Negril Recycling Competition sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism in partnership with the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo), Recycling Partners of Jamaica (RPJ) and the Negril Area Environmental Protection Trust (NEPT).

Mount Airy Primary and Infant School emerged overall winner while also taking the top prize in the primary school category, having collected 30,000 bottles. As a reward, the school received a projector, a 50-inch flat screen television, an all-in-one printer, scanner and copier, and a plaque presented by Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Mrs. Jennifer Griffith.  Second place among primary schools was Negril All Age while Revival All-Age took third spot.

Among the high school participants in the competition, Godfrey Stewart High took first place with a collection of 28,125 plastic bottles and was rewarded with three desktop computers and an all-in-one printer, scanner and copier. Rhodes Hall High School collected 20,425 bottles to claim second place.

Speaking at the competition’s awards ceremony at Royalton Negril last week, Executive Director of TPDCo, Dr. Andrew Spencer, noted that the competition had brought out the students drive and passion in a positive way and he underscored the importance of environmental stewardship and what could be done to contribute positively to tourism as the economy’s mainstay.

He reminded from Nature Conservancy 2016 that, “Environmental stewardship is the responsible use and conservation of the earth’s natural resources through practices that help preserve our world.”

Dr Spencer told the gathering of students, “We must continue to do the work despite the challenges, if we are to leave a legacy for the next generation. We must harness the collective will and energies of young and old to make Jamaica the place to live, work, do business and raise families as is our Vision 2030 goal.

He also appealed for more agents of change in society sharing their enthusiasm for environmental stewardship. The participants were implored “not to treat this activity as just a competition in a moment of time but as a cultural shift which will see you advocating and acting in a most responsible way to protect our environment.”   

The recycling initiative in resort areas is one of the activities implemented by the Ministry of Tourism and its agencies to mark 2017 being declared the Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

KINGTON, Jamaica; December 14, 2017:  Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett says his Ministry is committed to playing a key role in the transformation of the agricultural sector to better meet the needs of the hospitality sector. This will be bolstered by a series of initiatives scheduled to be launched by the Tourism Linkages Network in 2018.

“We will be  introducing an Entrepreneurial Training and Coaching Programme to help farmers to better understand the tourism industry, allowing them to tailor their production, distribution and logistics to match the requirements of businesses in the sector. This is very important because a lot of the farmers don’t understand how to trade with tourism partners,” said the Minister.

He went on to share that he would be visiting leading tourism stakeholders in Europe in the first quarter of 2018, with Minister of Industry, Commerce Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Karl Samuda and a team of high-level tourism officials.

While there, he hopes to discuss critical issues of linkages and the best methods that can be employed to enable local farmers and manufacturers to become more integrated in the production and consumption patterns within tourism.

“I am also going to be having conversations with investors in the sector with regards to this critical imperative of changing the production and consumption patterns of tourism – in favour of more locally sourced goods and services,” he said.

Minister Bartlett made the announcement at the launch of the Tourism Agri-Linkages Exchange (ALEX) platform, at the Montego Bay Convention Centre on December 13, 2017.

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

“We are excited about making ALEX the first step in this new technological advance that is going to bring our suppliers and our buyers together so that we can enhance the capacity of Jamaica to produce the things that the visitor wants. It now gives our farmers, an opportunity to talk to your market and for your market to talk back to you. It is going to reduce, in the end, the need for middle men,” explained the Minister.

The Minister also used the opportunity to announce that his Ministry will also be facilitating the development of berry farming in Jamaica to support the needs of the hoteliers for fresh high quality berries to meet the needs of their guests. 

In addition, he shared that an updated Tourism Demand Study, which will provide the empirical data to allow for the effective planning and identification of goods and services in the tourism sector, will be ready in March 2018.

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica; Wednesday, December 6, 2017: Caribbean government ministers and senior officials of investment promotion agencies have been told they must embrace regional collaboration and harmonization of policies as a valuable strategy to promoting investment in the region.

The charge came from Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett in his keynote address at the ‘Ministerial Roundtable on Investment Promotion in the Caribbean’, yesterday at the Iberostar Rose Hall Suites in Montego Bay. The event was hosted by the Caribbean Export Development Agency (Caribbean Export) in collaboration with the Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (CAIPA) and JAMPRO.

Minister Bartlett pointed out that the Caribbean was vulnerable and each country going it alone did not give them the economies of scale. However, with a combined population of 40 million, “if we project the region as one there is a bigger market to appeal to investors who, for instance, could set up an operational base in Jamaica and reach out to the other islands.”

Quoting from the World Investment Report 2017, Minister Bartlett pointed out “global foreign direct investment (FDI) lost momentum in 2016, showing that the road to recovery remains bumpy.” FDI inflows decreased by 2 percent to US$1.75 trillion “amid weak and significant policy risks.”

The report went on to state, “the downward trend in FDI flows to Latin America and the Caribbean accelerated, with inflows falling 14 percent to US$142 billion, owing to continued economic recession, weak commodity prices and pressures on exports.”

FDI is seen as the largest and most constant source of finance for Caribbean economies with positive spill over effects in such areas as technology transfer, job creation and insertion into the global value chain as “essential not just to trade arrangements that we put together but indeed, as we look for investment within the region as well.”    

Underscoring the importance of deliberations by the association, Minister Bartlett said with investors often looking at the region before making a decision in which country to invest, “Making the Caribbean brand known must become a priority for us if any of us is to benefit from investments. We must proactively engage with each other and face this challenge of low foreign investment together as we face other challenges that confront us in the face of our new realities.”

Among issues that he said must be addressed, were climate change, regional security, regulation of the foreign service sector, unemployment in general and poverty as an offshoot “as we seek to build out a strategy to drive more investment in our region.” Adding investment promotion and policy dialogue was also necessary, he said as survival of small economies depended on that.

Of major concern to many, said Minister Bartlett, was how to make Caribbean integration work with countries struggling to achieve economies of scale because of their size and the transportation challenge, which he said, was at the core of efforts to do collaborative activities.

“And how do we get over the notion of political integration which is fraught with all kind of difficulties and causes all sort of things, insularity and feeling of nationalism, to creep in? How do we make that transition to what we call a more collaborative approach?” he questioned, adding, “How do we get to avoid political logic and to focus on economic logic?”

Minister Bartlett suggested that understanding tourism presented a huge pathway to understanding the value of regionalism, regional cooperation and collaboration. “Perhaps that’s where the economic logic needs to come from and a tourism diplomacy might very well be the vehicle to make this transition,” he said.

He directed the ministers and their senior investment officials’ minds to consider how to come together and work together to create the power of a Caribbean that was very visible to a world that viewed all the islands as one geographic area called the Caribbean. 

KINGSTON Jamaica; December 19, 2017:  Minister of Tourism Hon. Edmund Bartlett and the outgoing Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Dr. Taleb Rifai today (December 19, 2017) signed the Montego Bay Declaration which will chart the course forward for a sustainable tourism world agenda.

Following the signing, which took place during the UNWTO’s Closing Ceremony for the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017, in Geneva, Switzerland; Minister Bartlett stated that, “the Montego Bay Declaration cements our legacy in the industry’s history books forever.”

The Declaration is one of the major outcomes of the recently concluded UNWTO, Government of Jamaica, World Bank Group and Inter-American Development Bank Global Conference on Jobs and Inclusive Growth: Partnerships for Sustainable Tourism, held at the Montego bay Convention Centre from November 27-29, 2017. It has been described as a blueprint for global tourism sustainability issues that will inform the next set of global millennial goals. 

Building on the legacy of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017, which had the objective of setting a common action plan towards 2030, the Declaration which is a 15-point action plan, also highlights two principal points which the Minister believes are pertinent to the development of Jamaica’s tourism sector.  

He noted that it outlines the need for Governments, private sector, donors and international and regional organisations to support the establish recommendation for the establishment of a Global Tourism Resilience Centre in the Caribbean.

“I am very pleased to share that the declaration not only has the support of the UNWTO but also the international community at large, who have expressed particular interest in the proposal to establish a Resilience Centre to mitigate the possible impact of disasters. We are currently in discussions with key stakeholders who I am certain will be giving their official endorsements soon,” said the Minister.

The Declaration also highlights the need for multilaterals to channel development financing to Small and Medium-Sized Tourism Enterprises (SMTEs), which drive 80 percent of global tourism and are important to the development of Jamaica’s second biggest employer and foreign exchange earner.

The aim of the closing ceremony was to bring the international community together to commit to realizing the universal 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through tourism, at the national and global level.  Most importantly, it brought to a close, the initiatives and actions initiated this year to provide a roadmap for the global community at large to embrace sustainable practices and maximize the engagement in the global development agenda.

Minister Bartlett is scheduled return to the island on December 21, 2017.