Minister of Tourism and Director of Tourism Meet With Canadian Travel Industry Elite In Toronto

TORONTO, CANADA – November 7, 2019 - Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, the Hon. Edmund Bartlett and Jamaica’s Director of Tourism, Donovan White, visited Toronto last month to meet with key Canadian travel partners Air Canada Vacations, WestJet, Sunwing, Transat and TravelBrands. For their Toronto tour, the Minister and Director were joined by Angella Bennett, the Jamaica Tourist Board’s (JTB) Regional Director for Canada.

The visit reaffirmed Jamaica’s already strong relationship with Canada, the second largest market for stopover arrivals to the destination. While in Toronto, Minister Bartlett and Director White announced that the island is expected to welcome approximately 400,000 visitors from Canada by year end which is a 1.5 percent growth over the previous year. The upcoming high season will also see an increase in flights from Canada to the island.

“The visit to Toronto was very productive in all aspects,” said Minister Bartlett. “In addition to the current 360,000 airline seats from Canada, another 21,418 seats will be added for the upcoming busy season to meet the high demand. Canada is a key market for Jamaica, and there is incredible potential for increased growth. I believe that we can see 500,000 stopover arrivals from Canada within the next two years, due to the increase in air seats, new and upcoming developments on-island and the fantastic ongoing support of the Canadian travel industry.”

Director White is also confident that the Canadian market will only continue to grow. “Our island has enjoyed a really solid year with arrivals from Canada, and we look forward to closing a strong year. The momentum from Canada is extremely positive and we are very happy with what the future holds.”

The tourism team also met with Canadian tourism partners and travel media to highlight the significant growth in the number of hotel rooms for the coming year. Among the hotel developments mentioned were the AC Hotel by Marriott that opened in June with 219 rooms, the addition of 57 rooms at Half Moon, and Oceans by H10 with its first 500 rooms (of 1,000) to open this November.

“Canada has always been a strong market for Jamaica,” concluded Minister Bartlett. “We are glad that we could meet in-person with our travel partners and leading travel media, and that we could connect with the Canadian network. It was a wonderful opportunity to thank them all for their dedication and tireless support. The trip was certainly successful and we can expect further growth from the valuable Canadian market. The future is truly bright.”