MoBay, Negril favoured for travel in 2012
Published:Sunday | December 25, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Steven Jackson, Business Reporter
American travel agents are so encouraged by forward booking to Jamaica that they ranked Montego Bay and Negril within their top-10 destinations for 2012, a new survey of agents showed.
Still Montego Bay is expected to perform below 2011 levels.
Negril improved its ranking to 10 for 2012 from 15 in 2011 while Montego Bay slipped to ninth from seventh, according to Travel Leaders' 2012 Travel Trends Survey released Tuesday.
United States-based Travel Leaders, a 2008 amalgam of the Carlson Wagonlit Travel Associates, TraveLeaders and Tzell Travel Group - claims heritage to North America's first travel agency chain established in 1888.
Travel agents were asked to name their top destinations already receiving 2012 booking, the survey stated. The top-five destinations were Caribbean cruises followed by Cancun, Mexico; Playa del Carmen, Mexico; Mediterranean Cruises; and Rome, Italy. The only other Caribbean destination in the top-10 was Punta Cana, Dominica Republic at number six.
Investments now bearing fruit
Jamaica Hotel and Tourism Association (JHTA) president Evelyn Smith said that the survey indicates that investments made in recent years by the private sector and the Government are now bearing fruit.
"It certainly is a good thing for Jamaica," said Smith. "The truth is that we are diversifying the product in Montego Bay and Negril, which has increased interest in those destinations. The fruits of these efforts would have made it easier to market these destinations to the agents."
She explained that tourism thrives on "newness" and that the destination's diversification included new attractions, large hotels, boutique villas and events.
"Speaking of Negril, I would attribute that rise to some of the smaller hotels and boutiques and even budget rooms," said Smith. The JHTA president operates a boutique hotel in that town.
Tourism arrivals for the year to August are up 2.1 per cent to 1.4 million. Some 63 per cent of tourists came from the US market, 19.5 per cent from Canada, 8.4 per cent from UK, 3.9 per cent from Europe, and 3.2 per cent from the Caribbean.
The survey found that nearly 40 per cent of the travel agent respondents are seeing higher 2012 bookings so far, compared to their 2011 bookings at this time last year; some 41 per cent are seeing about the same level; and about 20 per cent are seeing lower forward booking year on year.
Over 91 per cent of travel agents surveyed expect clients to spend the same or more on travel in 2012. That is a rise over 88.3 per cent in 2011. The survey found a growing trend towards the Caribbean, particularly in respect of cruises, and second, Europe.