Bartlett – Jamaica secures 283,000 seats out of Canada

Jamaica Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, has reported success in increasing airline seats out of Canada.

Well ahead of 2019 numbers

Jamaica’s second largest visitor market is Canada. “So far, we have been successful in commitments that will see the number of airline seats at a record 283,000 out of Canada to Jamaica this winter; 26,000 more seats than was recorded in 2019, pre-COVID-19,” he announced this afternoon. These are from major travel partners such as Air Canada Vacations, WestJet, Transat and Sunwing.

Speaking from Canada, Minister Bartlett said, “The marketing program for Canada is now in full gear” and supported by Director of Tourism, Donovan White, and the Jamaica Tourist Board’s Regional Director for Canada, Angella Bennett, “we are having meetings with our airline partners and tour operators.”

Mr. Bartlett’s working visit to Canada with a number of senior tourism officials will see them engaged in a series of activities between various segments of the market that take in Toronto, Calgary, Winnipeg, Montreal, and Ottawa and, he has reported:

“We are satisfied that the market has bounced back post-COVID.”

He said the 283,000 seats “will go a long way in bringing us back to our levels of over 300,000 visitors that we had during the immediate pre-COVID period but the objective is to get to 400,000 where we were in 2010.”

The visit is also being used to launch the JTB’s new “Come Back” campaign and Minister Bartlett contends that “with added inventory coming in Jamaica and a new thrust in terms of the quality product and recognition of the value proposition that Jamaica offers, we are optimistic that in 2023/24 we will see a full recovery of the Canadian market to the levels that we were in the best of times in 2010.”

SEEN IN PHOTO:  Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett (3rd right) and Director of Tourism, Donovan White (3rd left) at Air Canada Vacations today with (l-r) Dan Hamilton, District Sales Manager, Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB); Shirley Lam, Manager, Product Development, Air Canada; Angella Bennett, JTB’s Regional Director for Canada; Nino Montagnese, Vice President, Air Canada Vacations (ACV); Dina Bertolo, Vice President, Product Development, ACV; and Audrey Tanguay, Manager, Global Sales & Tourism Partnerships, Air Canada. – image courtesy of Jamaica Ministry of Tourism

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