Latin America a new frontier for Jamaican tourism
Published:Sunday | May 15, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Sheena Gayle, Gleaner Writer
Western Bureau:
Jamaica has a vested interest in aggressively pursuing South American tourists as this region shows higher tourism growth prospects than the traditional North America market, which is still the island's main supplier of tourists, says a top tourism official.
Growth projections for the wider Latin American tourism market are said to be showing better prospects than its counterpart up North.
Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett told an international conference in Montego Bay that with the reconfiguration of global economic activities, South America was showing more economic buoyancy than the traditional markets.
Bartlett said South America is expected to grow between seven to nine per cent, while North America will grow by only two to three per cent.
"Places such as Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Colombia have deve-loped a large middle class, and they are among the group who are inclined to travel and explore other destinations. Jamaica is looking to these areas," he said at the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference.
TEF increase
It is for this reason, the minister added, that his ministry is seeking an increase in the Tourism Enhancement Fund to boost marketing in emerging economies.
"The new increase is specifically going towards marketing Jamaica within these new territories. The increase is not going into a consolidated fund to do other things. We want to up our marketing, and by doing so, increase the tourist arrivals," Bartlett said.
The minister is off to Brazil, Chile, and Colombia - on a trip that starts today - to gin up market interest and to meet with tour operators and airlines to conclude arrangements for flights to start coming into Jamaica in the next high season, which kicks off annually on December 15.
His team plans other visits to Russia and China in June, Bartlett said.
Elizabeth Scotton, chief commercial officer at MBJ Airport, confirms increased travel emerging out of Latin America. MBJ Airport runs Jamaica's biggest airport, Sangster International, located in the primary resort city of Montego Bay.
"We are starting to see an increase in travel from persons in that region - places like Brazil, Ecuador, and Colombia, to name a few," said Scotton.
"The Jamaica Tourist Board has identified that the South America region is an emerging market, and so a lot of marketing has gone into promoting Jamaica in that region. While there are no commitments for slots just yet at the airport, there is a huge interest from persons in that region to travel here in the winter season", she said.
Scotton, who works alongside the Ministry of Tourism on destination marketing, says that tour operators, chartered airlines, and scheduled airlines from the region are developing an interest in flying to Jamaica, but that it is normally the tour operators and chartered airlines that lead the process.