Hundreds Expected to Attend JAPEX 2014
By: , September 10, 2014The Key Point:
The Facts
- The annual event offers the ideal forum for leading suppliers of the country’s tourism product to meet with travel wholesalers and tour operators in a professionally-organised business exchange.
- Over the three days, participants will be engaged in discussions, appointment scheduling, networking and scheduled tours of hotels and attractions.
The Full Story
Hundreds of overseas buyers and local suppliers in the tourism sector are expected to meet at the Montego Bay Convention Centre, St. James from September 21 to 23 for the 24th staging of Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX).
The annual event, put on by the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) and the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), offers the ideal forum for leading suppliers of the country’s tourism product to meet with travel wholesalers and tour operators in a professionally-organised business exchange.
Over the three days, participants will be engaged in discussions, appointment scheduling, networking and scheduled tours of hotels and attractions.
Director of Tourism, Paul Pennicook told JIS News that the three-day trade show is “the single most important business generator for the island’s tourism product, and brings together travel wholesalers and tour operators from Europe and the Americas with Jamaica’s leading tourism suppliers to conduct business negotiations.”
“JAPEX is the largest trade show for the industry in Jamaica and we are expecting persons primarily from North America, the United States and Canada with others from Latin America and Europe,” Mr. Pennicook said.
Minister of Tourism and Entertainment, Dr. Wykeham McNeill, in his message to mark this year’s staging, said that the three-day trade event comes on the heels of a landmark year for tourism in 2013, which saw Jamaica welcoming a record of over two million stopover visitors.
“JAPEX 2013 welcomed well over 100 buyer delegates, media and travel writers from traditional and emerging markets and facilitated over 200 supplier delegates from all six resort areas. This impressive turnout not only underscores the fact that JAPEX remains a vital institution for our tourism sector but is also proof of the attractiveness of our tourism product and the strength of brand Jamaica in the international marketplace,” the Minister highlighted.
He expressed confidence that this year’s event will build on the success of 2013, as the show “offers an invaluable opportunity to make connections and deepen relationships in order to drive growth in visitor arrivals to Jamaica, while strengthening linkages with the domestic economy.”