TALKING POINTS FOR MINISTER OF TOURISM, HON. EDMUND BARTLETT AT THE PRESS LAUNCH FOR THE FIVE (5) TOURISM LINKAGES NETWORKS THE JAMAICA PEGASUS HOTEL THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2016

SALUTATIONS:

Fellow tourism partners, members of the media, ladies and gentlemen…good morning.

INTRODUCTION

·        It gives me great pleasure to see you all here today for this important tourism linkages event as we launch our five new networks – Welcome!

·        I would also like to extend a personal welcome, to Ms. Yolanda Perdomo Aparicio, Director of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Affiliate Members Programme, in Spain. Ms. Perdomo Aparicio is an expert in tourism destination promotion and distribution, and has responsibility for the UNWTO’s Shopping, Gastronomy, City Tourism and Knowledge Networks.

·        We are fortunate that we will be benefitting from her considerable expertise over the next few days as she shares her insight and provides strategic guidance to further diversify our tourism product while strengthening linkages with the domestic economy.

·        This morning’s launch is significant for two main reasons. It comes towards the tail end of what has been a record year for tourism in Jamaica, as we continue to register growth of over 5% in both tourism earnings and visitor arrivals.

·        At the same time, this morning’s gathering is important because it marks the start of what promises to be an exciting future for local tourism as the public and private sectors come together to unleash Jamaica’s true potential as a tourist destination.

·        The prospect for our industry continues to be positive – the investment climate is vibrant with hundreds of new and refurbished rooms coming on stream; industry stakeholders are optimistic; we’re boosting marketing, enhancing our tourism product and strengthening linkages between tourism and other sectors.

·        There is no doubt that our island continues to be one of the highest performing destinations in the region. Despite the challenges (Hurricane Matthew; United States Presidential elections etc.) we have managed to perform exceptionally well.

STATE OF THE SECTOR

Arrivals

·        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.

·        Stopover arrivals also increased by 2.4 percent over the same period last year, with 1,788,079 visitors.

·        Cruise arrivals increased by 9.1 percent over the same period in 2015, totaling 1,313,841 cruise passengers. 

·        We are seeing robust performance out of the United States, Jamaica’s primary source market, which saw a 4.6 percent increase for January to October 2016 over the same period last year.

·        The European market grew by 5.3 percent from January to October 2016, over the corresponding period in 2015.

Airlift

·        For winter 2017, the destination has secured in excess of 4,000 new seats from the United States over last winter. 

·        This is due in large measure to the new charter service from Rockford, Illinois by Apple Vacations which begins in January. Advance bookings for this service are very strong. 

·        Similarly, another gateway from which we expect increased air seats this winter is Minneapolis, which is being served by Delta and Sun Country Charter.

·        In the Northeast, we have direct service from Boston on Delta, starting December 17. This is in addition to current direct service offered by American Airlines and JetBlue Airways.

Hotel Construction

·        The past year has been exciting for the accommodation sub-sector with significant construction taking place in 2016 and continuing into 2017.

·        Among the rooms brought on-stream recently are:

§  RIU Reggae –  450 rooms

§  Royalton Blue Waters – 225 rooms

§  Royal Decameron Cornwall – 142 rooms

§  AM Resorts’ Breathless Resort – 150 rooms

§  Zoë try  Montego Bay – 50 rooms

§  Grande Bahia Principe – 400 rooms

§  Moon Palace –750 rooms

§  Melia Braco – some 230 rooms

·        The outlook for 2017 is also quite positive as more than 1,000 new rooms are expected to be added to our room stock.

§  Royalton Negril Resort & Spa – 600 rooms

§  The Hideaway at Royalton Negril Resort – 166 rooms

§  Azul Sensatori – some 51 rooms

§  Azul Beach – some 98 rooms

§  Spanish Court West – some 120 rooms 

·        In Kingston:

§  The Renfrew will provide 32 high-end rooms and eight two-bedroom apartments.

§  Construction is also underway at the former Wyndham Kingston. The 303-room property was acquired by the Kevin Hendrickson led Courtleigh Hotel group.

THE GROWTH FRAMEWORK

·        There is no doubt that this is a very strong performance for the island’s tourist industry. With the increase in room stock and airlift, our sector is on the right path to achieving our target of attracting 5 million visitors in the next five years and to earn US $5 billion.

·        Yet, there is still a lot of work to be done. This is why today is so significant.

·        The Tourism Linkages Network, has 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.

·        How do we achieve this?  We are focusing on growing our earnings per visitor and striving to retain more of those earnings in Jamaica. To do this we are taking decisive steps to give the visitors more things to do when they come to our island – tap into their passion points – and we can only do this by diversifying our product offerings.

·        A destination’s product, attractions and experiences drive a visitor’s destination choice. Therefore, developing a diverse and innovative product is essential for tourism to remain viable.

·        Jamaica has so much to work with. We have amazing natural assets and a very distinctive culture. We’re the birthplace of jerk, we make the best rum, and we have spectacular scenery and great attractions. Here the people are friendlier and the music is great. 

·        Jamaica is a strong, internationally recognized brand – a marketers dream.  This is what differentiates us from the competition. Now we must play to our strengths by diversifying our product and give the Jamaica Tourist Board a more diverse product to market.

·        I have spoken often of the Five Pillars of Tourism Growth, which we will use to transform the island’s tourism sector, deepen linkages and achieve significant growth.  These are:

§  Tapping into new markets

§  Developing new products

§  Promoting investment

§  Building new partnerships, and;

§  Developing human capital

·        Underpinning these five pillars of growth are seven strategic areas of focus, which will serve to further diversify our tourism offerings while building business opportunities and generating improvements in the competitiveness of our tourism product. These are:

·        Our well established:

§  Manufacturing Technical Working Group

§  Agriculture Technical Working Group

·        These are supported by our new networks:

§  Gastronomy  Network

§  Sports and Entertainment Network

§  Health and Wellness Network

§  Shopping Network

§  Knowledge Network

·        Should this cross-sector strategy perform optimally, it will play a major role in bolstering our position as a first class tourist destination, which in turn will increase our attractiveness to tourists and potential investors.

THE NETWORKS

·        Since its inception the Tourism Linkages Network has been reaping success in its efforts to strengthen the relationship between tourism and other sectors, such as manufacturing, agriculture and the creative industries through various innovative initiatives:

§   Christmas in July Exhibition

§  Agro-Tourism Farmers’ Markets

§  Speed Networking Events

·        We now plan to build on these successes and expand our reach.  This is why we have expanded the linkages framework to develop initiatives in sports and entertainment, shopping, knowledge, health and wellness, and gastronomy. In this way we will position the sector to achieve our growth targets.

·        I am confident moving forward knowing that the networks are chaired by persons with vast experience and knowledge of their respective fields.

§  Gastronomy – Nicola Madden-Greig, Immediate Past President of the JHTA

§  Sports and Entertainment – Kamal Bankay, Entertainment Consultant

§  Health and Wellness – Dr. Henry Lowe, Executive Chairman of the Environmental Health Foundation 

§  Shopping – Anup Chandiram, President, Duty Free Association of Jamaica

§  Knowledge – David Butler, CEO, Digicel

§  Both Working Groups are chaired by experts as well:

Ø Manufacturing Technical Working Group – Metry Seaga, President of the Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association

Ø Agriculture Technical Working Group – Dr. Derrick Deslandes, Lecturer, University of the West Indies and President of CASE

·        After months of hard work our networks are now ready to roll out a number of new initiatives that will add a new and exciting dimension to our tourism offerings and provide visitors with wonderful opportunities to explore and pursue their passions.

·        We will be leveraging our food festivals to satisfy those visitors who say good food is as an important part of their tourism experience; we will be positioning Jamaica as a major duty-free shopping destination to give visitors more opportunities to spend; we will also be collaborating with event promoters and venue managers to package and promote local music events, festivals and live shows to attract visitors to our shores all throughout the year.

·        These are just some of the exciting programmes which our networks are moving to implement in order to further enhance our tourism product and tap into new markets.

CONCLUSION

·        In closing, I want to thank the chairpersons and other individuals who are volunteering their valuable time to develop, expand and refine our product range through these important networks and the linkages initiative overall.

·        Our tourism sector has significant potential, but it will only flourish if we work as partners in building it. I am challenging each one of you here today to work with diligence to build on our current success and take Jamaica’s tourism to a higher level.

·        I am confident that this collaborative public-private sector approach can provide the creativity, resources and direction necessary to fulfill our mandate of transforming Jamaica’s tourism sector and set in motion the means to accomplish greater growth. In so doing, we will cement Jamaica’s position as a high-quality and competitive world class tourist destination. 

Thank you.