KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica and the Cayman Islands have initiated discussions to facilitate collaboration on tourism to boost their respective tourism sectors.
(Left to right): Cayman Islands’ Deputy Premier, Minister of Finance & Economic Development, and Minister of Border Control & Labour Christopher Saunders; Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett; and Minister of Tourism & Transport for the Cayman Islands, Kenneth Bryan, following talks on tourism collaboration.Among the areas being examined for cooperation are multi-destination tourism, airlift, enhancing border protocols, rationalizing airspace as well as resilience building.
Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett made the disclosure on Wednesday during a meeting with members of a special delegation from the Cayman Islands, led by Deputy Premier Christopher Saunders who is also Minister of Finance and Economic Development, and Minister of Border Control and Labour, along with Minister of Tourism and Transport Kenneth Bryan.
He said special focus will be placed on multi-destination tourism adding that he will be meeting with key players in the industry in Cayman next month.
“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,” Bartlet said, noting that he would be “more so looking at airlift and airline collaboration”.
The Tourism Minister added that he is ready to work with Cayman to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in relation to multi-destination tourism.
Jamaica has already signed four similar agreements with Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Panama.
Bartlett explained that in developing the framework, the Ministry of Tourism is seeking to “include the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and Belize, from this side of the Caribbean.”
Meantime, he called on 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.
Describing the concept of a possible package, Bartlett explained: “If you buy a trip to Jamaica for US$50, that US$50 takes you into Cayman and into Trinidad”.
However, he noted, “that in itself would be an interesting and challenging task because we would then have to look at price differentiation in relation to what the product offering is”.
Bartlett believes such packages he feels will help to fuel the development of multi-destination tourism across the region, adding that it is “not beyond us.”
He said the issue will be further explored at the next meeting of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) in October this year.
The CHTA will host the 40th edition of its flagship trade event Caribbean Travel Marketplace in San Juan, Puerto Rico from October 3 to 5.
