Tourism Minister leads drive to boost UK arrival figures
Friday 7, October 2011
Tourism Minister, the Hon. Edmund Bartlett and Director of Tourism Mr. John Lynch, visited the United Kingdom, late last week to hold key discussions in an effort to increase visitor arrivals from the UK market, ahead of the highly anticipated World Travel Market, WTM.
The WTM, which is the leading global travel trade event for the travel industry takes place in London from November 7-10, 2011.
Recognising the softening of the UK and European economies overall, coupled with the impact of the Air Passenger Duty, APD, Minister Bartlett and Mr. Lynch met in London with two major travel partners. The key objectives of the meeting included how best to strengthen relationships with partners in the region and ultimately to boost Jamaica’s market share in both the UK and key areas of Northern Europe.
In addition to focusing on the conventional issue of strengthening the Jamaica tourism product, the Minister and Director of Tourism also met with Galvin Western, who’s family owns Jamaica’s Frenchman’s Cove property, and who is the owner of the world famous chocolate brand Charbonnel et Walker. Western has been tasked to work in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism to create a strategy that will support the redevelopment of Port Antonio, Portland, and ensuring its longevity and desirability as a tourism hot spot. Also, playing to Western’s strengths, Minister Bartlett and the Director discussed the state of Jamaica’s famous cocoa industry with a view to creating a custom made, premium brand in time for 2012 and how best to tap into the UK market.
Tourism Minister, the Hon. Edmund Bartlett expressed that “our time in the UK, albeit short, was invaluable in terms of helping support and strengthen our tourism product in the UK market. To do this, we’ve strived not just to look at existing channels of support, such as with our travel partners but also areas that have not been explored and exploited for some time, such as with Jamaica’s cocoa industry.”
Minister Bartlett added that “discussions were also held with relevant parties regarding the up-coming World Travel Market, a corner-stone event in the tourism calendar and how best to maximise Jamaica’s exposure. Jamaica’s booth will be a hub or activity at this year’s event with the 2012 50th Anniversary of Independence celebrations, Jamaica Jazz and Blues, the Olympics and as part of the Olympics, the creation of the Jamaica Village, all with a view to raising awareness of Jamaica in such a key market.”
Both the Minister and the Director of Tourism are presently in Berlin, Germany where they are attending the World Routes 2011 Development Forum.
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