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Ocho Rios Number 1 Port in Jamaica, contributing 40% of total arrivals in 2019

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Jamaica Tourism Minister Hon. Edmund Bartlett says Ocho Rios has emerged as the number one port in the country, having contributed forty percent of total visitor arrivals in 2019.

Preliminary data from the Jamaica Tourist Board indicate that Jamaica welcomed approximately 4.3million visitors last year. Of that number, cruise passengers accounted for over 1.5million.

Speaking at the inaugural visit of the Norwegian Bliss today in Ocho Rios, Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett said, “Ocho Rios has had a phenomenal growth trend for last year, welcoming 197 calls, which represented a passenger count of over 600 thousand. This is a 40% contribution to our overall visitor arrivals and has made Ocho Rios the number port for calls in the island.”

The additional call of the Norwegian bliss will add over 11,000 visitors to Jamaica’s cruise numbers following its two calls this year.

Jamaica remains one of the most sought after cruise destinations with diverse tourism products and experiences as well as some of the biggest and best ports. Last year, Jamaica was awarded top Caribbean Cruise Destination of the year for 2018 from Caribbean Journal, the world’s largest website covering Caribbean travel and trade news.

“Cruise Tourism forms an integral part in the Ministry of Tourism’s overall growth strategy and I am pleased about the numbers coming out of Ocho Rios. There’s more good news as the projection for Ocho Rios for the first quarter of 2020 is 36 calls that will amount to over 86 thousand visitors” said Minister Bartlett.

Executive Director of Jamaica Vacations, the agency of the Ministry of Tourism responsible for cruise tourism, Joy Roberts, also indicated that more port experiences are being built out to attract more passenger engagement and spend. This is being done through entertainment and food and will be done through multi-port destinations for cruise ships to give each port its own unique theme so passengers will leave satisfied with a variety of experiences.

“The most recent imitative is the offer of a cup of Jamaica Blue Mountain (JBM) Coffee on arrival at all ports which began with the inaugural visit of the Norwegian Bliss. This gesture will help increase brand awareness and the sale of locally grown premium coffee to international markets,” Minister Bartlett added.

Media Contact:

Corporate Communications Division

Ministry of Tourism

64 Knutsford Boulevard| Kingston 5

T: (876) 920-4926-30 (o)| (876) 906 1729 (f)

Cruise Passengers to Receive Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee

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Jamaica Tourism Minister Hon. Edmund Bartlett says cruise passengers onboard the Norwegian Bliss, which is set to dock in Ocho Rios tomorrow, will all receive a cup of Jamaica Blue Mountain (JBM) Coffee on arrival.

The gesture marks the start of a new initiative, by the Tourism Ministry and key stakeholders, to have JBM offered to all cruise passengers disembarking at Jamaica’s main ports. It is being organized to help increase brand awareness and sale of locally grown premium coffee to international markets.

“Tomorrow when the Norwegian Bliss arrives in Ocho Rios we will begin the program I announced last year of having coffee tastings at the cruise ports, when cruise ships arrive in Jamaica.  So 4,000 cruisers and 1,700 crew members will arrive tomorrow and they will all get a cup of our Jamaican Coffee,” said Minister

The Minister made this announcement earlier today, during the launch of the third staging of the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival, at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston.

He shared that the new marketing initiative for coffee would also include having the product featured at all international events that the Ministry of Tourism and the Jamaica Tourist Board will participate in this year.

“We are going to be inserting the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee in the marketing arrangements for upcoming tradeshows. In fact, we actually used it recently at our display in Japan.

Now we are going to Berlin in March, for ITB, and we are going to establish there, the start of our coffee tasting arrangements, which will now be a feature of all our tourism exhibitions at trade shows across the world,” said Minister Bartlett.

As the Ministry seeks to target new markets to visit the island, the Tourism Minister added that the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival would be a key part of their promotion for March arrivals.

“This festival is not just an event, it is a product. After two years, we have been able to learn a lot, hone our skills in putting this arrangement together and to package it. Now we are at a position where we can create this product, which can be inserted in the market and be tied into marketing packages that we will be selling to our visitors,” he said.

The Minister said that initiatives like the coffee festival builds sustainability in the tourism sector by integrating events, businesses and communities in a way that creates jobs, builds local economies and spreads tourism’s benefits beyond the traditional resort areas.

“In celebrating coffee, we are also seeing it as a huge driver of economic wellbeing. Not only is it a commodity for export and for trading in general, not only is it a means of income for a large number of small and large farmers, but it is also a catalyst that enables a number of  other economic activities to happen and a wider range of employment for a number of other people,” he said.

The Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee Festival is a three-day signature event led by the Tourism Linkages Network and other key partners.  It includes a Farmers Trade Day, Marketplace Day and the Jamaica Blue Mountain Culinary Trail Brunch.

Last year’s Marketplace Day was a sold-out event with over 1200 patrons.  It included some 50 Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises (SMTEs) – such as purveyors of coffee-infused spa products like soaps, body scrubs and butters as well as producers of delicious coffee-infused foods from chicken to sweet treats.

This year’s event will take place from March 20 – 22, in Newcastle, St. Andrew.

More news about Jamaica.

MEDIA CONTACT: Jamaica Ministry of Tourism, Corporate Communications, 64 Knutsford Boulevard, Kingston 5, Tel: 920-4926-30, Fax: 920-4944

MSC Meraviglia to bring 50,000 cruise passengers to Ocho Rios

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Jamaica Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says Ocho Rios is gearing up to welcome 50,000 cruise ship passengers courtesy of the cruise line, MSC Meraviglia.

MSC Cruise, an over 300 year old company, entered the cruise business in 1988 and is now the world’s largest privately-owned cruise line and brand market leader in Europe, South America and Southern Africa. 

Speaking at the welcome reception for the ship’s inaugural visit to Ocho Rios today, Minister Bartlett said, “With the additional call of the MSC Meraviglia, which holds 7200 passengers and crew, Jamaica’s cruise tourism is expected to end the year in a very strong position.

More importantly, this addition will see Ocho Rios welcoming 50,000 cruise ship passengers with 10 calls from now until April next year.”

The Meraviglia, which is a sophisticated combination of state of the art technology, design, comfort and practicality, joins Seaside, Divina and Armonia which have been visiting Ocho Rios and Falmouth.

“Jamaica’s cruise tourism will see a boost in arrivals and earnings in the next couple of years with more calls to all ports and the inclusion of Port Royal to the itinerary.

Within the context of reimagining the island’s tourism, we are now looking at cruise tourism specifically as to how we can build out more infrastructure and experiences to attract more visitors and retain more of the cruise dollar,” added Minister Bartlett.

Ocho Rios was just awarded the Caribbean’s leading cruise port at the World Travel Awards in Oman and recently won the Hospitality award for the best resort town.

For the period January to October 2019, Ocho Rios has seen an 11.9 percent increase in calls and 2.6 percent in passenger arrivals, representing a passenger count of 450,000. Ocho Rios is also expected to see a 4% increase in passenger arrivals by the end of the year, making it the number one port for visitors and calls in the island.

MEDIA CONTACT: Jamaica Ministry of Tourism, Corporate Communications, 64 Knutsford Boulevard, Kingston 5, Tel: 920-4926-30, Fax: 920-4944