KINGSTON — Jamaica and the Cayman Islands are looking to join forces in the name of tourism.
The two popular Caribbean destinations have initiated discussions to facilitate collaboration on tourism, in order to leverage the strong historical ties and synergies between both nations to boost their tourism sectors, say representatives for both countries.
Items on the new tourism cooperation to-do list include: multi-destination tourism; airlift; enhancing border protocols; rationalizing airspace; and resilience building.
Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett met with members of a special delegation from the Cayman Islands, led by Christopher Saunders, who is the Cayman Islands’ Deputy Premier, Minister of Finance & Economic Development and Minister of Border Control & Labour, and Kenneth Bryan, Minister of Tourism & Transport.
A special focus will be placed on multi-destination tourism, said Minister Bartlett. More meetings will take place in September in the Cayman Islands around IATA’s fourth annual Caribbean Aviation Day.
“The meeting in Cayman with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), in September, could be the stepping-stone for coalescing our position on elements of multi-destination tourism,” said Minister Bartlett. He added that he will also be “more so looking at airlift and airline collaboration.”
Minister Bartlett also said he is “ready to work with Cayman to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Cayman Islands in relation to multi-destination tourism. Jamaica has already signed four similar agreements with Cuba, the D.R., Mexico, and Panama.
Jamaica’s Ministry of Tourism is seeking to include the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and Belize as well.
For multi-destination tourism, Minister Bartlett made a call for players in the private sector to develop a special tourism package, with an attractive price, that can be presented to the market to promote multi-destination tourism and enhance the regional tourism product. The potential for joint tourism product will be one focus of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association’s (CHTA) 40th flagship trade event, Caribbean Travel Marketplace, in San Juan, Puerto Rico Oct. 3 – 5.
