Consul General Thanks Canadian Media for Positive Stories on Jamaica

Jamaica’s Consul General to Toronto, Anne-Marie Bonner, has expressed appreciation to Canadian media practitioners for their assistance in promoting positive news on Jamaica during 2008.
“Last year was an extraordinary year for us and you helped to keep Jamaica in the headlines and keep Jamaica’s image positive,” said the Consul General, while addressing the journalists recently at a Media Appreciation Luncheon held in Toronto, Canada, and co-hosted by the Jamaican Consulate General, the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) and the Jamaica Information Service (JIS).
“I encourage you to continue doing what you do and to continue being accessible to us,” Ms. Bonner told the print and broadcast journalists and public relations officers.
Manager of the JTB in Canada, Sandra Scott, also thanked the journalists, saying they had assisted with the increase in Canadian visitor arrivals in Jamaica.
“From January to November last year we had over 200,000 Canadian visitors, which represented an increase of 22 per cent over the corresponding period in 2007. Without your help, without your positive stories, it would not have been possible,” she noted.
She also encouraged them to not only visit Jamaica but also visit one of the 157 licensed attractions in Jamaica, “(is) the only island in the Caribbean with so many licensed attractions.”
Michael Van Cooten, editor of Pride News, thanked the three Jamaican government agencies for organizing the annual event, which he noted that his colleagues all look forward to with great anticipation. “No other government in Toronto does this; so on behalf of all of us a warm and profound thank you,” He said.