Remarks by the Hon. Dr. Wykeham McNeill Minister of Tourism & Entertainment Half Moon, Rose Hall, Montego Bay JAPEX Media Roundtable Monday, April 29, 2013

Salutations:

Members of the media,

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning.  

It has been a short six months since our last meeting at JAPEX 2012. Much has happened during this period both locally and internationally.  So I am delighted to once again meet with you to provide you with an update on destination Jamaica.  

Of course allow me to extend a warm welcome and indeed welcome back to many of you, as you cover this 23rd staging of JAPEX.    

The Jamaica Product Exchange trade show continues to be by far the single most important trade show for Jamaica's tourism business.  So I am appreciative of your continued support over the years as you work along with our travel partners to expose brand Jamaica to the global marketplace.  

We continue to do business against a background of tough global economic conditions, which have persisted in markets such as the US, Canada and the UK.  However, we ended 2012 with 1.8 percent growth. We continue to have growth and are looking forward to a good summer. Here in Jamaica we have been experiencing new investment and some transition of ownership taking place in the hotel sector.    

RIU Resorts has 250 upscale rooms under construction in Montego Bay and we have welcomed some established brands to the ownership of some established hotels: Blue Diamond Resorts has taken over the Trelawny Beach Hotel, Melia Hotels has taken over the Braco Village, Karisma Resorts has taken over the Poinciana in Negril, Sagicor has now taken over its third property to be operated under the Jewels flag. In our capital, Kingston, construction of a Marriott Courtyard should begin this year.  

Going forward, therefore, Jamaica will be offering a fresh and even more attractive product. There will also be greater muscle behind our marketing efforts, as our new partners add their energies to the team's efforts.  

I am happy to say that progress is being made as we aggressively work towards diversifying our source markets.  We have successfully broken into the Latin American market and have made significant headway in reducing the barriers to travel. Specifically, we have relaxed the visa requirements for nationals from Colombia, Venezuela and Panama, and we have implemented direct airlift arrangements with Copa. Additionally, I am sure you will have noticed that we have improved the experience of arrival in Jamaica         

This summer, Copa, having started with two flights to Jamaica is now providing four flights per week to Kingston and four to Montego Bay from its hub in Panama City.  As we witness the relaxation of the visa regime taking effect, this offers great opportunity for Jamaica in Latin America.    

The Eastern European markets are also showing real solid potential, with Russia in particular starting to produce good numbers.  Recently we announced the decision of Cabinet to approve the waiving of visa requirements for nationals of Russia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Ukraine.  Another success as we move to further open these markets.  

Currently we have one flight out of Moscow every ten days; however we are in the middle of negotiations to increase this to two flights on a ten day rotation for the 2013/2014 winter period.    

We will be bolstering our flights out of Europe with an additional flight by Condor Airlines in November 2013 out of Munich, a major Hub for Europe.  Plus a charter service out of the Czech Republic will continue for Winter 2013/2014.  The addition of the new service by Thomas Cook out of Stockholm, starting in November 2013, with further expansion of service in December 2013, will continue the foray into the expanded European markets.  

This summer, Virgin Atlantic increases service from the UK to three weekly flights into Montego Bay, up from two for last summer; and TUI offering its fifth flight from the UK in summer 2014.  

The Canadian market however has been challenged.  It has been a difficult winter, more so as the Canadian companies have been streamlining their operations, resulting in decreased airlift into the Caribbean destinations.  

What we have been doing is taking a proactive approach to this market for the 2013/2014 winter season.    

We are confident of adequate airlift out of the USA, which will facilitate growth in our major source market.  This will be further bolstered by Air Tran, which now has four flights per week out of Chicago. 

We are also very excited that as of July 1, Kingston will be the first destination for Air Canada's leisure carrier, Rouge. Additionally, Air Canada Vacations has outlined significant growth plans for Jamaica as we head into next winter and beyond.  

Ladies and gentlemen, our tourism sector remains vibrant.  Going forward our plan is to expand the room stock not only in quantity but also quality, through the introduction of Integrated Resort Developments.    

Jamaica's Casino Gaming Act is now fully in effect. The final part of the Act was signed recently by the Minister of Finance and Planning. It deals with integrated resort development, which represents the means by which the Government of Jamaica proposes to substantially grow the hotel sector with accompanying casinos.

Our Casino Gaming Act describes an integrated resort development as one which, when completed, will comprise one or more hotels with a total of at least 2000 rooms. Such approved integrated resorts may have casinos.  Hotel rooms already in existence or currently under construction will not be eligible.  

As of June 1 the Government of Jamaica will be receiving requests for proposals inclusive of applications to operate casinos. Four months will be allowed for review of proposals and the Government expects to be able to make a decision by early in the New Year. The Minister of Finance and Planning has advised that he has received at least six serious expressions of interest.  

As the state of the global economy continues to give us peaks and troughs, it's an opportunity to strengthen our competitive advantages while strategically positioning destination Jamaica.  What you will see is an expansion of the depth and breadth of our tourism product offerings, as we continue to remove the barriers to entry for travelers from the new and emerging markets we have targeted.  

Work to improve our infrastructure will continue. This year sidewalks will be upgraded in Negril, a major refurbishment of Ocho Rios will take place, and work will begin on the final two segments of the north-south highway. When completed, in December 2015, this important artery will make travel between the North Coast and our capital faster and easier.  

Ladies and gentlemen, I want to acknowledge that one of the greatest distinctions of destination Jamaica is the high repeat visitation rate of visitors that we experience.  And I know I need not go into the details of the significance of this for a tourism destination.  

However I do want to say that, one of the ways in which we have been able to achieve and maintain this is through the carefully nurtured relationships that we have enjoyed over the years with our travel trade partners.  And naturally this includes the travel media.   

So over the next two days of JAPEX and in fact starting right now, I want you to sample the many unique offerings Jamaica has to offer. What we want you to experience, is the promise of destination Jamaica that ‘Once You Go, You Know'.

THANK YOU.