NEGRIL, Westmoreland, Jamaica; Sunday, December 18, 2016: Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett has assured craft traders in the fast developing resort town of Negril that $80 million has been allocated to construct an artisan village in the area.

“I am pleased to announce to you today that we are going to proceed with the development of the infrastructure for the craft entrepreneurs in Negril by way of building out the artisan village here in Negril,” Minister Bartlett told the craft traders when he met with them on the weekend. This as the Minister and other officials from the Ministry of Tourism and its agencies visited the area as part of a winter tourist season motivational tour.

He told the gathering at the Negril Green Island Planning Authority that details of the $80 million project would be outlined to them by the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) early in the New Year.

“Some aspects of the design are already completed and we will have to work with you for full buy-in because one of the things that we want to ensure is that you have very commodious setting and comfort,” he noted.

Five artisan villages are slated to be built across the island. They will be one-stop-shop facilities where visitors can see the creation and merchandising of craft items, while enjoying authentic Jamaican entertainment and leisure activities. It will also provide an avenue for Jamaican artists and craftsmen to expose and express their creativity by producing unique indigenous items, thus, limiting the volume of imported craft items that are being sold in the industry.

Using his preferred reference to them as craft entrepreneurs, Minister Bartlett said the craft subsector had a special and key role to play in building out the experience of the Negril destination. “We need to build for you the infrastructure, the regulatory and the legislative framework that will give you the space to grow, expand and to prosper,” he said. Advising them that their job was to grow, Mr. Bartlett said there had to be dialogue on how they were going to make that happen.

He reiterated a desire to see the sector producing creative Jamaican art and craft at a very high standard and in quantities that could meet big commercial orders. He therefore outlined that craft traders would be trained under a memorandum of understanding now being finalized with the Edna Manley Collage of the Visual and Performing Arts, adding that the details of that partnership are to be disclosed in January.

Minister Bartlett had additional advice for the craft traders. “I want you to be organized into, whether it is a cooperative or a company, with a legal arrangement so that your organization can enter into contracts with big companies to produce the large quantities of items that hotels or other companies will need,” he said. It was outlined that the TPDCo Entrepreneurial Team will sit with the traders to work out having that done.

The Minister also advised the craft traders to take advantage of loan facilities established by the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) working in collaboration with entities such as EXIM Bank, through which small and medium-sized tourism enterprises (SMTEs) can access from $5 million up to $25 million at 5% interest for five years. Such facilities he notes can help to put them in a position to compete and supply on a wider scale.

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica; December 14, 2016: Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett today announced that Cabinet has approved the drafting of the Tourism Workers Pension Act to facilitate the creation of the much needed pension fund. The scheme will benefit all tourism workers, including Red Cap Porters, craft vendors, ground transportation operators and hotel workers.

In making the announcement today (December 14), Minister Bartlett, who laid the groundwork for the pension scheme some six years ago, explained that “on Monday the Cabinet of Jamaica approved the pension plan arrangement for the workers of the tourism industry.”

“This clears the way for Parliamentary approval to be sought for the Act to facilitate the establishment of the pension scheme and for the requisite steps to be taken to amend the TEF Act to allow for the disbursement of $1 billion to facilitate the seeding of the pension scheme,” he said.

The Minister emphasized that “the fund will attract the same kind of fiscal arrangement that established other pension funds in the country and will be treated like the typical pension scheme where contributions will be tax free.”

He outlined that the next step is for legislation to be drafted and taken to Parliament for debate in a bid to secure approval, which would pave the way for the establishment of the scheme.

The Minister was addressing workers from the Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA), Red Cap Porters as well as ground transportation operators at a special appreciation function for tourism workers at the Sangster International Airport.  The event was held to thank them for their hard work and encourage them to redouble their efforts for what is gearing up to be the biggest winter tourist season ever.

He gave a commitment to the tourism workers “that by September of 2017 the formal arrangement and the first beneficiary of this act will come into being.” This, he added, meant “we would have created a historic arrangement where for the first time the workers of the tourism industry, not just those in the accommodation sub-sector but all the workers in every category that contribute to the development of tourism in Jamaica, will have a pension plan.”

Minister Bartlett also suggested that the pension scheme would also set the stage for the elimination of seasonality in the industry with workers having quality year-round employment and not having to worry about seasonal employment. Further, he said this was the last year of celebrating the start of the winter tourist season as there is now an evening out of the flow of visitors throughout the entire year.

Following the function, Minister Bartlett and other officials, including representatives from the Ministry and its agencies, welcomed the first visitor for the Winter Tourist Season as a Jamaican who migrated from the island over 30 years ago, along with her Trinidadian husband, were welcomed  as the first arrivals for the winter season. The JetBlue flight from the USA touched down at approximately 9:55 a.m. and the lucky couple were met at plane side. They received VIP treatment upon arrival and received several special gifts from various tourism entities.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, December 14, 2016: A memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish a framework for cooperation to further boost and diversify Jamaica’s tourism product, was signed on December 13, 2016 by the Jamaica Tourist Board and home-sharing accommodation company Airbnb.

Ahead of the signing, at the Jamaica Tourist Board’s New Kingston offices, Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett expressed his excitement about the positive impact he expects the partnership to have on the travel experience of visitors and Jamaica’s tourism product overall.

“This partnership will help expose our visitors to our rich culture and showcase the warm Jamaican hospitality for which we are known the world over. I also believe great things will come from this, as we cooperate in areas of common interest, including marketing Jamaica as a tourist destination; promoting sporting events as well as our festivals and other cultural events; and fostering responsible home sharing,” said Minister Bartlett.

The Airbnb digital platform is currently used by approximately 140 million people in more than 34,000 cities and 191 countries. Its growing popularity has caused some concern locally from tourism interests, as it currently surpasses some major hotel chains in terms of number of beds offered and market valuation.

However, Minister Bartlett outlined that Airbnb and other digitally-operated travel platforms, should not be feared by tourism interests locally. In fact, according to statistics provided by Airbnb, the company was responsible for bringing 32,000 tourists to the country in the past year.

“The popularity of Airbnb is not necessarily a bad thing for our hospitality industry. I think we should face the fact that these technology-driven firms are here to stay. They could not be growing rapidly in size and scale to rival some of the world’s largest transportation and hospitality businesses unless there was a demand for the type of services they provide. So, they should be embraced and not feared,” said Minister Bartlett.

“This agreement has been long in coming and will play a key role in our efforts to diversify our tourism product to cater to the passions of a growing demographic. I am confident that our partnership with Airbnb will be a fruitful one which will help to boost arrivals and enable more Jamaicans to participate in the tourism sector,” said Chairman of the Jamaica Tourist Board, John Lynch.

“We are excited to announce this partnership with the Jamaica Tourist Board. Jamaica is a world class tourist destination that offers visitors a unique experience against a beautiful backdrop. Whether you come to Jamaica for the beaches, the country’s fascinating history and culture, amazing food or warm people, Jamaica has something to offer everyone. We look forward to continuing our work with everyone involved in promoting Jamaica as a top travel destination,” said Shawn Sullivan, Airbnb's Public Policy lead for Central America and the Caribbean.  “Airbnb travelers seek unique and authentic travel experiences and Jamaica offers just that,” he noted.

Under the terms of the memorandum of understanding, there will be regulatory measures in place that will benefit and safeguard Jamaican Airbnb hosts and by extension, the country. It will also take into account destination assurance, by establishing hosting standards and best practices for homestay facilities.

Airbnb is a community marketplace established in 2008. It allows people to list, discover, and book unique short-term accommodations around the world online or from a mobile phone or tablet.

KINGSTON, Jamaica; December 8, 2016:  Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett today (December 08, 2016) officially launched five new networks under its overarching Tourism Linkages Network initiative, to better position the sector to generate higher growth rates, in both visitor arrivals and earnings.

The Tourism Linkages Network was first introduced in 2013 with the primary goal of ensuring that tourism would be better integrated with other sectors. The initial focus was strengthening the relationship with the manufacturing and agricultural sectors as well as the creative industries. The Tourism Linkages Network is spearheaded by a Tourism Linkages Council, Chaired by renowned hotelier Mr. Adam Stewart.
The Council has two main groups which directly foster greater synergy between tourism and the productive sectors namely the Agriculture Technical Working Group and the Manufacturing Technical Working Group.

However the tourism linkages initiative has now been expanded to include five new networks: Gastronomy; Sports and Entertainment; Health and Wellness; Shopping; and Knowledge.
Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett shared that the decision to expand the networks was strategic as they will have a fundamental role to play in helping the tourism sector achieve its growth targets.
“If we intend to attract five million visitors by 2021; generate $5 billion in tourism earnings, increase the total direct jobs to 125,000 and add 15,000 new hotel rooms, then we must put in place the framework to foster the growth of this sector. So, the networks being introduced today will aid in transforming the sector, deepen linkages and achieve significant growth,” said Minister Bartlett.

The Minister also indicated that the timing of the launch was significant, as recently released figures from the Jamaica Tourist Board, indicate that the country’s tourism sector is performing very well.
He revealed that Jamaica has registered growth of over 5% in both tourism earnings and visitor arrivals. Specifically, from January to October 2016, the island registered an increase of 5.2 percent in total visitor arrivals over the same period last year, with 3,101,920 total visitors. For winter 2017, the destination also secured in excess of 4,000 new air seats from the United States over last winter. Over 1,000 new rooms are also expected to be added in 2017.

“There is no doubt that this is a very strong performance for the island’s tourist industry. But, there is still a lot of work to be done. This is why the new networks we have developed are vital,” said Minister Bartlett.
Each network, which is chaired by a member of the Tourism Linkages Council, has already prepared detailed programmes and projects which were specifically chosen to add value to the Jamaican tourism sector, particularly as it relates to increasing visitor arrivals and spend.

Among the proposed plans for the networks are: the creation of a gastronomy mobile application; the development of a top ten events initiative to help drive entertainment locally; the development of nutraceuticals (such as Ball Moss, Ginger and Marijuana); developing a central information repository and an online tourism knowledge portal and identifying areas to be designated as shopping areas.
 

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica; December 11, 2016: The island’s tourism sector has signalled its readiness for what is expected to be the best winter tourist season in the country’s history. With hundreds of additional rooms being brought on stream, a significant increase in air seats out of key markets and an uptick in cruise arrivals, Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett is beaming with anticipation.
He outlined that because the sector is doing so well and growing consistently, the concept of the winter tourist season, which runs from December 15 to April 15, will soon have little relevance to tourism in Jamaica. “This year is the last year we’re going to have anything called the ‘start of the winter tourist season,’ we have graduated beyond that,” he told staff at a number of hotels during a pre-season motivational tour on the weekend.

The anticipated end to the seasonality of local tourism is based on the fact that “we will have four million visitors here next year for sure,” Minister Bartlett assured hotel staff. Continuing, he said, “this year we’re going to end up with something like 3.7 million and when you get to four million arrivals next year you can’t talk about winter season and summer season because every day is the season now.”
To rousing applause he further assured staff that for them this meant a greater degree of certainty about their jobs as they would not have to be too concerned about seasonal employment.
The tour included visits to Moon Palace Jamaica Grande in Ocho Rios and stops in Montego Bay where he visited Riu Reggae, Sandals Royal Caribbean’s uniquely created over-water suites and Royal Decameron. All four properties have incorporated levels of innovation that give them unique features that appeal to the expanding tastes of today’s travellers.

“The visitor today is far more informed than ever before and is turning everything that we’ve known on its head. At one time we had a slogan in the market that ‘One you go you know’; with today’s technology we have to switch that around, it has to be now ‘Once you know you go’ because there’s so much that’s out there and such heavy content that is flowing in the social space and people are grabbing it and responding to it,” said the Tourism Minister.

During the tour Minister Bartlett also took note of the extent to which locally grown fruits and vegetables were made available to guests at the hotels and urged that greater efforts be made to infuse more Jamaican produce in meals prepared at local properties. “These are the things that identify and define a destination,” he underscored, adding, “what visitors come for and what really makes them stay is the authenticity of the experience such as our delicious Jamaican food. That is why we are driving the process to have our properties use more local produce through our Tourism Linkages Network.”

As part of the tour, Minister Bartlett and other officials from the Ministry of Tourism and its agencies will also be meeting with workers at the island’s two main international airports and ground transportation operators. The meetings with industry workers, he said, was “to underscore the importance of the human capital in driving the tourism experience and also to motivate them and give them my commitment in terms of what we want to do to assist in building their capacity to deliver more, earn more and to become better partners in the industry.”

KINGSTON, Jamaica; December 6, 2016: The port of Kingston today (December 06, 2016) welcomed its largest cruise ship ever, the MS Monarch which is operated by Pullmantur, the largest Spanish Cruise line.  The visit was also historic because for the first time the island had mega ships in the main ports in Kingston, Falmouth, Montego Bay and Ocho Rios at the same time.
“This inaugural visit of the MS Monarch is momentous to us in Jamaica. We are very happy that Kingston is being considered as part of the programme for the next two years. That is exciting for us because we have always felt that destination Kingston has a particular allurement, charm and value of its own that is deserving of recognition,” said Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett at a welcome reception onboard.

In extending his welcome to the passengers and crew of the MS Monarch, Minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Hon. Dr. Horace Chang  also shared that he hoped that the passengers would return to Kingston on many occasions hereafter.

“We want to ensure that the experience visitors have here today will be one that they like so much that they will want to come back and spend more time in Kingston. We also hope this is the first of many more to come, not only of the Pullmantur but a number of other ships, because Jamaica is the best destination in cruise across the world,” said Minister Chang.

The cruise ship, which has the capacity to carry some 2,700 passengers, docked at Kingston Wharves at about 6:00 am. During the short port call, visitors were given the opportunity to tour historical locations around the island. While, free shuttles were also arranged to accommodate tours of Kingston to noteworthy locations such as: Port Royal, Devon House, the Bob Marley Museum, the National Gallery of Jamaica, Emancipation Park and the Craft Market.

“One of the exciting aspects of the short exertion experiences is the provision of opportunities for expenditure off the ship and the movement of people off the ship as well. I am happy to say that over 400 passengers have gone to Ocho Rios and we expect another 1,000 to be moving around the Kingston area,” shared the Minister.

According to Vice President, Cruise Shipping and Marina Operations at the Port Authority of Jamaica, William Tatham, the move to have to ship dock in Kingston was made because they were unable to accommodate it on Jamaica’s north coast as both the Montego Bay and Falmouth ports were full.

In fact, the island simultaneously welcomed six cruise ships today (December 06, 2016). These included, The Norwegian Epic and Coral Princess in Ocho Rios; Thomson Dream and AIDAmar in Montego Bay; and the world’s largest cruise ship, Harmony of the Seas in Falmouth.

“Jamaica’s cruise industry is doing very well. The rate at which we are growing, also suggests that next year we will be at the 2 million mark. That will take us over the 4 million visitors that we require, to move towards our target of 5 million visitors in the next five years and to earn US $5 billion,” said Minister Bartlett.

KINGSTON, Jamaica; December 4, 2016: The Ministry of Tourism is set to receive strategic assistance from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in the development of its Tourism Linkages Network. This as Director of the UNWTO Affiliate Members Programme, Ms. Yolanda Perdomo-Aparicio, will be arriving in the island on December 5 on the invitation of Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, for a five-day working visit.

Ms. Perdomo-Aparicio has experience in both the public and private sectors and is an expert in tourism destination promotion and distribution. At the UNWTO, she is in charge of the shopping, city tourism, gastronomy and knowledge networks. She will be assisting the ministry in developing its networks by providing strategic guidance.

Since assuming office nine months ago, Minister Bartlett has been laying the foundation for the growth and diversification of Jamaica’s tourism industry through five networks;  Sports and Entertainment, Gastronomy, Health and Wellness, Shopping and Knowledge. They operate under the Ministry’s overarching Tourism Linkages Network which seeks to drive the development of these sub-sectors to further diversify our tourism offerings, create business opportunities and increase the use of local goods and services within the tourism sector.

Minister Bartlett said “I am delighted that Ms. Perdomo-Aparicio was able to accept my invitation and I look forward to the invaluable support she will be giving to the Linkages Network while she is here. She is truly an expert in this area and I am convinced she will provide great insight that will aid in the development of our tourism networks.”

While here, Ms. Perdomo-Aparicio will help to raise awareness among Jamaican entrepreneurs regarding the opportunities available through the networks as well as encourage entrepreneurs to participate in the activities of the Ministry of Tourism’s Linkages Network.   

She will participate in several important engagements during her visit. On Wednesday, December 7 the programme of the five new Tourism Linkages Networks will be rolled out at a Press Launch set for the Jamaica Pegasus at 10:00a.m. Later that day, Ms. Perdomo-Aparicio will address the inaugural Tourism Policy Lecture Series which will be held under the theme ‘Network Possibilities: New Opportunities for the Tourism Sector’ at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Regional Headquarters at 6:00 p.m.

The inaugural lecture will be hosted by the UWI Department of Government, UWI Centre for Tourism and Policy Research in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and will be attended by, among others, Minister Bartlett, Chairman of the Tourism Linkages Council, Mr. Adam Stewart and UWI Principal Prof. Archibald McDonald.

Ms. Perdomo-Aparicio will attend a meeting of the Tourism Linkages Council on Thursday, December 8 and on Friday December 9 participate in a Network Stakeholders Rap Session at the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) Library at 9:30 a.m.

Jamaica Cops Several Accolades in the 23rd Annual World Travel Awards (WTA)

KINGSTON, Jamaica; December 4, 2016: Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett has been bestowed the distinctive award of World’s Leading Personality for Outstanding Services to Travel, at the 23rd Annual World Travel Awards (WTA) Grand Final held in the Maldives, Southern Asia on December 2, 2016. Destination Jamaica and local tourism partners also copped several prestigious awards at the event.

“I am very pleased to receive this award. It is truly humbling to be recognized in this manner at such a major event attended by many of the world’s leading travel and tourism stalwarts,” said Minister Bartlett.

The award is the most prestigious honour in the travel industry each year and is presented to an individual who has made a monumental contribution to the travel and tourism industry. The recipient also had to make a positive, defining impact on the industry, not only over the last 12 months, but over the course of a lifetime. 

In making the decision, World Travel Awards President, Graham Cooke shared that their academy met to review suitable candidates and Minister Bartlett’s name unanimously came to the fore.“We are deeply privileged to be able to formally honour and recognize such a pioneering and inspirational man and to present to the global industry an exemplary torch bearer of undisputed industry excellence and a power of good to the world of travel,” said Mr. Cooke.

Minister Bartlett has given over thirty-five years of service to Jamaica, in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. He has represented Jamaica regionally and internationally, and currently chairs the Board of Affiliate Members of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).  He is the first to serve on the executive of both the public and private sector arms of this esteemed organization.

Jamaica emerged the “World's Leading Cruise Destination” as well as the “World's Leading Wedding Destination.”

Among the awards received by several of Jamaica’s resorts and travel partners were the World's Leading All-Inclusive Company (Sandals Resorts International), World's Leading All-Inclusive Family Resort Brand (Beaches Resorts), World's Leading Caribbean Attraction Company (Island Routes Caribbean Adventures), World's Leading Luxury Hotel Villa (Ian Fleming Villa at GoldenEye), World's Leading New Island Resort (Meliá Braco Village) and World's Leading Villa Resort (Round Hill Hotel & Villas)

Minister Bartlett lauded the destination and local tourism entities on winning several awards. “I am very pleased that destination Jamaica and our local tourism partners continue to be world beaters on the international stage. Their performance has played a significant role in fueling the growth that we are seeing in our sector,” he said.

“We continue to register growth in spite of the challenges. In October we had growth in both arrivals and earnings despite Jamaica suffering a loss of over 8,000 potential visitors due to cancellations during the passage of Hurricane Matthew. During the month of October 2016 the top performing regions were Latin America, recording growth of 26.6% over October 2015 with a total of 2,803 visitors, and Europe recording growth of 10.5%, over October 2015 with a total of 21,870 visitors,” the Minister emphasized.

This is Minister Bartlett’s second World Travel Award in recent times, as he was previously named the “Caribbean’s Leading Personality for Outstanding Services to Tourism” in September of this year.

Minister Bartlett was accompanied by Minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Hon. Dr. Horace Chang who accepted the award for World's Leading Cruise Destination on behalf of the Port Authority of Jamaica.

FALMOUTH, Trelawny; November 23, 2016: Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett has embraced a suggestion from Captain Johnny Faevelen, Master of the world’s largest cruise ship, Harmony of the Seas, to strategically engage crew members on cruise ships to aid in promoting the destination to attract more passengers to the island.

The cruise ship with a maximum capacity for some 6,780 guests and 2300 crew members, was launched just five months ago by Royal Caribbean and made its inaugural visit to Falmouth on Tuesday November 22, 2016. At a welcome reception onboard, Captain Faevelen strongly suggested that while focus must be placed on passengers the crew “are the people you must take best care of.”

He pointed out that it was the crew members who helped to promote the various destinations to passengers, which informed their decision to get off the ships to see for themselves. He said they are the persons telling the guests about the different locations and being treated well by the people on land at the different ports augured well for how they promoted the island.

“The crew members are the most loyal customers you have,” he noted, reaffirming that “the most loyal people are the ones who come back not every other week on board the ship, not two months, not four months but eight months of the year and we love Jamaica. We love the friendliness, the happiness, the ‘no problem man’ attitude; we love Jamaica,” declared Captain Faevelen.

Underscoring the point, Minister Bartlett said “the Captain gave us a very interesting addition to the core of key first instance contact which we knew was there before but really it has not been brought to our consciousness in the way that the Captain did today, that the crew are indeed your first point of contact for the visitor coming into your destination.”

He endorsed the fact that “a lot of these visitors, while they are on board the ship, get their feeling about the destination, get their desire for the destination, get their allurement to the destination from the expressions and statements of the crew and the manner in which the destination is presented by them.”

The Tourism Minister added that “we take the guidance that he has given us and we will seek to engage the crew members in a more strategic way. I want to implore Jamaicans that wherever you see a crew member, take the best care of them because that’s truly your first point of contact to your destination.”

Minister Bartlett emphasised that cruise was a very essential part of the tourism offering that Destination Jamaica provided and the partnership with Royal Caribbean was very significant, resulting in the establishment of Falmouth as the largest port in the Caribbean. This development he said had made cruise tourism “rise to new heights” with 1.2 million arrivals last year in Falmouth alone while Montego Bay and Ocho Rios shared 500,000.

“This year, so far, we’re right on target; we’re actually 9 percent above last year and earnings have also grown. The period January to September 2016 saw a 9.6% increase in cruise passenger arrivals, with 1,223,608 recorded passengers, when compared to the same period last year,” he explained.

“We recorded cruise passenger earnings of approximately US$111 million, up from some US$98.3 million for the same period last year,” disclosed Mr. Bartlett.

Two other Royal Caribbean cruise ships, namely Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas are already berthing in Falmouth and Captain Faevelen said a fourth ship, not yet named, was under construction and expected to also come here after it has been commissioned.

In welcoming Harmony of the Seas, he noted that it was joining its sister ships and Jamaica was happy to be the destination in the Caribbean to have the pleasure of welcoming the three largest cruise ships in the world. “So we’re excited about the continued partnership and the relationship with Royal Caribbean and to see continued growth. To have all three major ships coming here is very significant and will enhance the growth of the industry in Jamaica and by extension the Caribbean,” he said.

Mr. Bartlett gave an assurance that “we are committed to building out the experiences that the cruise visitors require,” adding, “we are dedicated to ensuring a safe, seamless and secure destination.” Consequently, “we have been investing along that line; our partners the Port Authority of Jamaica and the UDC (Urban Development Corporation) they have been collaborating to build out creative experiences that will enable not only the over 8000, including crew, that come on the Harmony of the Seas to have fun along the port but to be able to radiate throughout the town of Falmouth and to benefit from the culture of the people.”

APPLETON, St. Elizabeth; Jamaica, November 20, 2016: Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett has welcomed as timely, a US$7.2 million investment that will make the long established Appleton Estate Rum Tour the gateway for tourism on the Jamaica’s South Coast. Minister Bartlett headed a list of dignitaries who broke ground recently for the Appleton Estate Visitor Centre which on completion, will be a showpiece surrounded by vast fields of sugar cane and home of Appleton, one of the world’s top rum brands.

The Tourism Minister was particularly pleased that the project was being undertaken in an area of Jamaica where investment of that magnitude has not been a common feature and he saw it as “the beginning of a new chapter in employment opportunities for a large number of people in the Siloah, Appleton and Maggoty area and to build out with you a seminal and aspirational experience that will bring millions of people to these parts over the coming years.”

Appleton Estate is owned by J. Wray & Nephew (JWN), a subsidiary of Gruppo Campari and the investment project was outlined by JWN’s Chairman, Clement “Jimmy” Lawrence, who noted that it will provide “a unique visitor experience.” It will involve upgrading of the existing facility and its expansion by another 25,000 square feet by October 2017.

The main building will be the welcome centre with a theatre, luxurious bar, five-star restaurant and other amenities preceding the historical tour of the estate’s distillery and its ageing warehouses. It is highly anticipated that the rail service which ground to a halt many years ago, will be rolling again around 2017 or shortly thereafter and form an integral part of the plan to more than double the 50,000 visitors who currently take the Appleton Rum Tour.

Minister Bartlett lauded JWN for “going beyond manufacturing to expanding the range of offerings that Jamaica provides as a destination and helping to make us a much desired place that people want to visit.” He was also pleased that elements of the exciting expansion plan, namely food and music, were two of the passion points that will attract visitors. “So you have a complete offering here that will excite everyone who wants to come to Jamaica and within that frame will encapsulate all that a visitor needs when he gets into a destination,” said Mr. Bartlett.

With the inclusion of a state of the art restaurant under the project, Minister Bartlett said “we see this as a bold statement that Jamaica is about to make to the world as a centre of gastronomy.” Also, work is progressing by the Ministry’s newly formed Gastronomy Network to, among other things, create a gastronomy mapping platform with easily accessible information on the best food offerings island-wide; foster the development of food tours across the country, including elements of food preparation and building out festivals as a product for gastronomy tourism. The Appleton Rum Tour will be the centrepiece of that gastronomy arrangement for the South Coast.

He implored Appleton to aim for a level of increase in visitors to the attraction way beyond its own projection, “because we are growing the industry at a rate that will enable you to do that. Cruise is going to grow exponentially and you must prepare yourself for the post 2017 arrival of the Appleton Train again. And you must prepare yourself for the expansion of the highway within these areas that is going to create connectivity in this Appleton area through Accompong and back into Montego Bay.”