JTB on Promotional Blitz in Canada

The Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) has embarked on a major promotional blitz in Canada to sell destination Jamaica.
JTB’s Regional Director for Canada, Sandra Scott, has said about 250 to 300 travel agencies are being targeted in each of the six major Canadian gateways, with the aim of increasing flights into the island for the upcoming winter tourist season.
“We’re covering every major gateway across Canada, starting with Vancouver all the way to Atlantic Canada,” said Ms. Scott.
The campaign got underway in Vancouver on September 20, with some 350 travel agencies reached over a five-day period, and will move to Quebec City and surrounding areas from October 6 to 8. The JTB team will be in Montreal from October 25 to 29; Alberta from October 17 to 23; South Western Ontario from November 1 to 4; and Atlantic Canada from November 22 to 26.
Ms. Scott told JIS News that during the blitz, JTB business development managers will be “knocking on doors, pounding the pavement and getting the word out that Jamaica is alive and well and we are open for business.”
The travel agents will be updated on Jamaica’s 160 licensed attractions; the new state-of-the-art Convention Centre set to open in January in Montego Bay; the impending opening of the new cruise ship pier in Falmouth, which will accommodate the largest cruise ship in the world; new and renovated hotel properties; and the increase in flights out of Canada.
For the winter season, which gets underway on December 15, there will be 69 weekly flights from Canada to Jamaica, a 25 per cent increase over last year.
Minister of Tourism, Hon. Ed Bartlett, who was visiting Canada recently, noted that the increase is a powerful statement by the airline partners as to the integrity of the destination.
Canada remains a very important market for Jamaica, as it is the fastest growing market and it is ranked number two, behind the United States, in terms of volume of visitors.
In 2005, Jamaica welcomed just a little over 100,000 Canadian visitors. Five years later that number has nearly tripled to just under 300,000, attributed mostly to the opening of gateways in Western Canada.
Atlantic Canada comprises the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador.