Jamaica targets emerging markets to grow tourism

With emerging markets expected to recover from the global economic crisis at a faster pace, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says greater emphasis is being placed on marketing Jamaica to prospective travellers in those regions.

Addressing the Pacific Area Writers Association international seminar on 'Travel and Tourism: Need for a Survival Plan in Turbulent Times' at the World Travel Market in London on November 10, Minister Bartlett pointed to research which indicates that emerging economies, such as Brazil, Russia, India and China will ultimately surpass the growth rate of developed economies in the United States, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, France and Italy. Emerging markets are forecast to grow in the region of nine per cent this year, compared with five per cent for developed economies.

Minister Bartlett told the influential tourism writers' group that consequently, "We are looking at these emerging markets as comprising over half the world's population; hence the fast and furious pace at which they are expanding must also create a significant impact on global travel."

The tourism minister emphasised that this rapid growth rate is being spurred by an intensity in commercial activities, which will result in an increase in earnings and thereby drive demand for leisure travel. He noted that "We then have to be prepared to capture or tap into these non-traditional, potentially high-yield source markets."

Additionally, Minister Bartlett noted that research shows that emerging markets have the highest rates of engagement on the Internet, which is why the Jamaica Tourist Board - the marketing and promotion arm of the Ministry of Tourism - implemented a comprehensive online marketing campaign and is making greater use of social media to deliver the message directly to prospective travellers in these areas.

Given the importance of tourism to the economies of countries like Jamaica, Bartlett stressed that "it is imperative that we take stock of the changing face of global travel and tourism and strategies to capitalise on these trends."

He adds: "Being able to change the architecture of our own tourism product and the way we position our destination is what equates to survival."

Increasing access

In sharing some of the strategies employed by Jamaica to achieve positive growth during the global economic recession, he pointed to deliberate efforts to improve airlift capacity to the island in order to increase access, sustained marketing and promotion utilising the best attributes of the country, such as the likes of sprint star Usain Bolt, improving the tourism infrastructure and the diversification of the product.

For the first six months of this year, stop-over arrivals grew 4.1 per cent over the corresponding period last year to 1,010,869. This resulted in a 1.6 per cent increase in gross foreign exchange earnings of US$1,048.9 million for the country. There was a 3.6 per cent increase in stop-over arrivals in 2009.

Despite the positive trends, Minister Bartlett underscored that there were still many challenges, more recent of which is the sharp increase in the air passenger duty by the UK Government.