Community News
Jamaica is doing big, big, tings! The push for brand Jamaica
BY SIMONE J. SMITH
Jamaica has long been a popular destination spot for travellers around the world, and for great reasons: its stunning beaches, vibrant culture, reggae music scene, and warm climate have made it a favorite among tourists. Tourists flock to Jamaica to relax on the beautiful beaches, explore the Blue Mountains, visit historical sites such as the Bob Marley Museum, and indulge in delicious Jamaican cuisine. Jamaica’s popularity as a travel destination has been supported by its well-developed tourism infrastructure, including a wide range of accommodations, restaurants, and recreational activities that cater to various preferences and budgets.
In 2022, the JTB was declared: ‘World’s Leading Cruise Destination,’ ‘World’s Leading Family Destination,’ and ‘World’s Leading Wedding Destination’ by the World Travel Awards, which also named it the ‘Caribbean’s Leading Tourist Board’ for the 15th consecutive year; and the ‘Caribbean’s Leading Destination’ for the 17th consecutive year; as well as the ‘Caribbean’s Leading Nature Destination’ and the ‘Caribbean’s Best Adventure Tourism Destination.
In addition, Jamaica earned seven awards in the prestigious gold and silver categories at the 2022 Travvy Awards, including: ‘‘Best Wedding Destination – Overall’, ‘Best Destination – Caribbean,’ ‘Best Culinary Destination – Caribbean,’ ‘Best Tourism Board – Caribbean,’ ‘Best Travel Agent Academy Program,’ ‘Best Cruise Destination – Caribbean’ and ‘Best Wedding Destination – Caribbean.’
Even though as an island, Jamaica has taken its throne as the most popular travel destination, the team at the Jamaica Tourist Board have no plans on stopping the push for brand Jamaica. Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, arrived in Canada mid-September with a strong and ambitious objective to attract half a million Canadian visitors to the island destination by 2025.
Jamaica’s Director of Tourism, Donovan White, and Fiona Fennell, Public Relations, and Communications Manager for the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), joined the Minister on a winter marketing blitz in Toronto alongside JTB Regional Director for Canada, Angella Bennett. The multi-day mission took place from September 20th to 23rd and included a series of industry engagements with travel partners, community groups and local media.
Throughout the week, Jamaica’s top tourism officials conducted meetings with senior executives from: Air Canada Vacations, Sunwing, Travel Brands, and Canada Jetlines, which will begin flights to Montego Bay on November 5th, 2023. The strategic discussions focused on the integral role that airlines and tour operators play in driving the destination’s new 500,000-visitor goal, and the importance of collaboration between the JTB and industry partners in order to increase airlift and vacation packages to Jamaica for Canadian travelers.
“Canada represents major potential to attract a significant number of visitors to the island,” noted Minister Bartlett. “We recently revealed an ambitious new goal to target half a million Canadian visitors annually by the end of 2025. Connecting with key tourism partners and stakeholders in the market this month allows us to nurture these critical industry relationships while identifying strategic growth tactics that will help us realize this 500,000-visitor objective.”
As part of its new growth plan, the JTB is looking to tap into the Asian-Canadian diaspora as an important emerging market for the island’s tourism sector. Minister Bartlett highlighted the importance of the Asian demographic and the historical ties between Jamaica and China during his keynote address at the Mandarin Holidays/Sunbook gala event hosted in Toronto on September 20th, 2023. The event attracted more than 200 travel agents, tour operators and industry representatives who specialize in servicing the local Asian Canadian community.
The delegation from Jamaica also travelled to Hamilton to tour the extensive archive of the Hon. Louise Bennett-Coverly (Miss Lou) at McMaster University. Minister Bartlett heralded the impressive collection of personal artifacts from the beloved Jamaican poet, folklorist, writer, and educator. During his time at the University, the Minister also began a dialogue with the leadership to explore the possibility of establishing Satellite Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) for the furtherment of building tourism resilience across the globe.
Additional events and engagements during Minister Bartlett’s in-market mission included: a ‘Come Back to Luxury’ dinner event to launch Jamaica’s new luxury-focused partnership with Ensemble, the Edith Baxter Memorial Award luncheon and presentation of the inaugural Resilience Awards by the GTRCMC, and the Canada Regional Jamaica Diaspora Conference.
On Monday, September 25th, 2023, Director Donovan White, Regional Director Angella Bennett, and PR and Communications Manager Fiona Fennell travelled onward to Montréal to meet with representatives from Air Transat and host a special Destination Update event for French-Canadian travel advisors and industry partners in the Québec region.
“As Jamaica’s second-largest source market, Canada has seen tremendously strong growth over the last year,” noted Director White. “Our arrivals from 2023 are expected to outpace 2022 by more than 40 percent, and this is in large part due to the JTB’s strong working relationships with industry partners in Canada, and our strategic efforts to engage the retail travel community from coast to coast.”
Jamaica is doing big, big, tings! What can I say; I am proud to be Jamaican.