Bartlett to be Presented with WTA World’s Leading Personality Award

Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, will be presented with the World’s Leading Personality award for Outstanding Services to Travel at the 23rd Annual World Travel Awards (WTA) to be held in the Maldives, Southern Asia on December 2.

An elated Mr. Bartlett, who will leave the island on November 30 for the function, told JIS News that he is truly humbled to be yet again recognised by a reputable body such as the WTA

He was named the Caribbean Leading Personality by the WTA back in September.

“The WTA is to travel and tourism as the Oscar is to the film industry or the Grammy is to music,” he noted.

“This is also an award for the people of Jamaica and all of the staff that is affiliated with the Ministry of Tourism. This is also for all our stakeholders and all the people who have worked tirelessly to ensure that our tourism product remains first class and competitive. They are the real unsung heroes in all of this – the wind beneath my wings,” he added.

The Tourism Minister will be accompanied on the trip by Minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Hon. Dr. Horace Chang.

President and Founder of the WTA, Graham Cooke, in a letter to Mr. Bartlett notifying him of the honour, said that the Tourism Minister has made “a monumental contribution to the travel and tourism industry.”

He noted that not only is the award well deserved but that the decision was an easy one to make by the WTA Academy.

“This is the most prestigious honour of the year in the travel industry,” Mr. Cooke noted. It will be given for your positive, defining impact, not only over the last 12 months, but over the course of a lifetime,” he added.

Mr. Cooke advised that when the Academy met to review all the candidates under consideration, Mr. Bartlett’s name was on everyone’s tongue. “It was a unanimous decision,” he said.

“We are deeply privileged to be able to formally honour and recognise such a pioneering and inspirational man and to present to the global industry an exemplary torch-bearer of undisputed industry excellence and a power of good to the world of travel,” the WTA President added.

The annual WTA awards ceremony attracts the movers and shakers in travel and tourism from around the globe.

Jamaica has been nominated for awards in several other categories, including the World’s Leading Romantic Destination, and the Falmouth Port as ‘Best Cruise Port’.