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Travel show hosts upbeat as delegates swarm MoBay

Published:Monday | January 28, 2019 | 12:00 AM
Prime Minister Andrew Holness (second left) is animated after cutting the ribbon officially opening the newest hotel in the country, S Hotel, in Montego Bay, St James, on Sunday. Sharing in the occasion (from left) are Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett; general manager, S Hotel, Lisa Gardner; Governor General Sir Patrick Allen; businessman Chris Issa of Crissa Group of Hotels; and Montego Bay Mayor Homer Davis. Ashley Anguin/Photographer

WESTERN BUREAU:

More than 1,000 delegates have already started to arrive for the world’s largest business-to-business marketing event for the Caribbean.

The event, tagged ‘Caribbean Travel Marketplace’, which has attracted representatives of destination management and travel companies, suppliers, and buyer companies from non-traditional markets, kicks off at the Montego Bay Convention Centre on Tuesday.

Among them are 57 new travel agencies that have registered as buyers, 19 of which are from China, seven each from Brazil and Colombia, and four from Poland. New buyers have also registered from other countries such as Canada, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Reports from Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), organisers of the event, are that 134 companies in total registered as buyers, 32 more than last year. The total number of buyer delegates has also climbed from 243 in 2018 to 262 this year.

On the supply side, a total of 200 companies have registered, a decrease from the 228 registered last year. The number of delegates has also fallen to 498 from the 549 registered in 2018. In terms of media and marketing, the data show that 126 have registered, 10 fewer than the 2018 figure.

Director general of the CHTA, Frank Comito, told The Gleaner that his organisation was upbeat about this year’s event and the impact it would have on the host country.

“The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association is excited about bringing the world’s largest business-to-business marketing event for Caribbean tourism back to Jamaica. The CHTA team and representatives from over 20 Caribbean destinations began arriving this past Friday for a series of pre-Marketplace meetings,” Comito said.

He added: “We’ve discussed how best to continue to work together to develop the market in the Caribbean and Caribbean tourism. The benefits of Caribbean Travel Marketplace to Jamaica, the host country, are tremendous. The world’s top companies from over 20 countries that book travel will be exposed to the best that Jamaica offers, its many and varied types of hotels; it’s incredible culture, food, attractions, music and, of course, the welcoming hospitality of the Jamaican people.”

Added to the traditional buyer/supplier one-on-one meetings, Jamaica will host a summit on Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises (SMTE), with former president of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, bringing the keynote address.

“We are bringing financiers to meet and discuss ways and means to provide affordable financing to small and medium-sized operators. This will include the EXIM Bank, where there is already a $1 billion provided by TEF,” Bartlett explained.

The summit has attracted the likes of the secretary general of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro Lemes, and a number of senior officers from the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.

The launch of the historic Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre in Kingston will bring a host of tourism leaders and ministers from Africa during the period.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com