During the meeting, the delegation explored opportunities to increase inbound tourism flows through enhanced connectivity from the UAE and across the Emirates network into Jamaica via the airline’s codeshare partners. The airline also actively promotes Jamaica to its customer base through curated Emirates Holidays packages, which include a range of hotel properties dotted on spectacular beaches across the island, adventure excursions to its lush rainforests and waterfalls, world-class golf, as well as exploring Jamaica’s unique culture and music scene.
“Jamaica, besides the fact that it is a powerful destination for music, art and food, and it has great rivers, beautiful beaches and turquoise waters, we have the finest people and people represents the essence of our iconic appeal. So we think that the Middle East and the MENA countries in particular, would find great joy in the Caribbean, and particularly in Jamaica.
“We are an island that has almost every ethnic group in the world, almost like here in Dubai,” Minister Bartlett tells TTN.
“We were pleased to cement Jamaica’s reputation as a destination of distinction for investment and tourism for Middle East investors and travellers during our time in Dubai both at Expo 2020 and at Arabian Travel Market. We have received significant interest from high profile government bodies, trade networks and private organisations attracted by Jamaica’s significant investment appeal. We have progressed a number of important agreements with high profile travel trade partners and look forward to establishing even stronger links between Jamaica and the MENA region.”
Jamaica Tourist Board highlighted forthcoming flagship events taking place in Jamaica such as the World Free Zones Organization’s AICE 2022, which will be held from June 13 to 17 at the Montego Bay Convention Centre. Jamaica is expected to welcome more than 1,000 visitors, including global free zone practitioners, policy makers, multi-lateral organisations and business representatives, to exchange ideas, experiences and visions for creating a more integrated global trade and business environment during the conference.
“Connectivity has been a challenge with this part of the world but that is about to change. The good news is that Emirates is now inserting Jamaica in their ticketing system, so that you can buy tickets to Jamaica, to Montego Bay and Kingston, as they will now take you through their US gateways.
“We are also looking at how to work with the other islands in the Caribbean, to enable multi-destination experiences for the visitors who are coming from this far distance and who would have two or three weeks holidays,” says Minister Bartlett.