Blog

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says travellers today are a lot more sophisticated and are expecting more for their tourism dollars.

Mr. Holness, who was giving the keynote address at the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Global Conference on Jobs and Inclusive Growth at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St. James on November 28, added that tourism-dependent countries should wake up to that reality.

“There has been somewhat of a revolution in travel in terms of how people book, places they want to stay, and what they want to experience,” he noted.

“We are very cognisant of this and understand that we must also change. Travel facilitation is at the core of developing tourism and unlocking its socio-economic benefits,” the Prime Minister argued.

Mr. Holness suggested that countries should start placing emphasis on “how we market our destination and on finding new markets”.

“Recently, Jamaica has been placing renewed emphasis on revitalising some markets and on introducing new direct airlifts, such as from Poland,” he pointed out.

“In fact, Jamaica recorded a phenomenal 91.3 per cent increase in stopover visitor arrivals from the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB)-defined Southern and Western Europe region for the month of September 2017, over the same period last year,” Mr. Holness noted.

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says travellers today are a lot more sophisticated and are expecting more for their tourism dollars.

Mr. Holness, who was giving the keynote address at the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Global Conference on Jobs and Inclusive Growth at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St. James on November 28, added that tourism-dependent countries should wake up to that reality.

“There has been somewhat of a revolution in travel in terms of how people book, places they want to stay, and what they want to experience,” he noted.

“We are very cognisant of this and understand that we must also change. Travel facilitation is at the core of developing tourism and unlocking its socio-economic benefits,” the Prime Minister argued.

Mr. Holness suggested that countries should start placing emphasis on “how we market our destination and on finding new markets”.

“Recently, Jamaica has been placing renewed emphasis on revitalising some markets and on introducing new direct airlifts, such as from Poland,” he pointed out.

“In fact, Jamaica recorded a phenomenal 91.3 per cent increase in stopover visitor arrivals from the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB)-defined Southern and Western Europe region for the month of September 2017, over the same period last year,” Mr. Holness noted.

He reported that for the 10 months of 2017, there was a seven per cent increase in stopover arrivals in comparison to the corresponding period for 2016.

Source JIS