As Jamaica opens its borders to welcome overseas visitors, tourism entities are implementing the necessary protocols, to keep both guests and workers safe. As part of the preparations, the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) embarked on a series of sensitisation workshops to highlight the coronavirus (COVID-19) protocols that will govern the tourism sector as it reopens on June 15. President...

The Jamaica Centre of Tourism Innovation (JCTI), under the Ministry of Tourism, is providing an opportunity for workers within the sector to upgrade their skills and develop professionally. The centre, which is a division of the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), was launched in 2017, to facilitate the certification and licensure of employees, as well as support innovation within the sector....

Drawing on the Jamaican sprit of resilience, many tourism workers and small operators affected by the downturn in the global sector due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic are finding alternative means of making a living. Among them is Ocho Rios businessman, Michael Campbell, who says his family has been operating a craft shop at Dunn’s River Falls for more than...

With more than 800 employees locally and 1,000 more at locations across the Caribbean, Chukka Caribbean Adventures has been quietly emerging as Jamaica’s biggest attraction company and a major pull factor for the country’s booming tourism sector. The company operates more than 60 adventure tours for all ages in Jamaica, Belize, and Turks and Caicos Islands, including horseback riding, zip...

Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says that 2019 was another successful year for tourism with the sector poised to generate record numbers in arrivals and earnings. “In 2018, we welcomed 4.3 million visitors, which earned us US$3.3 billion and this year we are well on our way to surpassing this record achievement,” he tells JIS News. “Jamaica is poised to...

Jamaica continues to boast some of the finest attractions in the Caribbean, which tourism stakeholders say have been acting as major pull factors in attracting cruise and stopover visitors. This, they also note, has been contributing to businesses all around, where tourism interests – craft traders, transport operators, restaurant owners and hoteliers – are benefiting. “The cruise lines will tell...

Several key stakeholders from Montego Bay and its environs attended the St. James Public Health Services Vector Control Symposium, which was held at the RIU Montego Bay Resort recently. The event was coordinated in partnership with the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF). Executive Director of the TEF, Dr. Carey Wallace, told stakeholders that the organisation has had a long-standing partnership with...

On Monday, October 21, Richard Patrick Salm will be among Jamaicans who will be recognised for their contribution to national development, at the National Honours and Awards ceremony, at King’s House. He will be awarded the Order of Distinction in the Rank of Commander (CD) for service to Tourism, Winter Sports Promotion and Community Development. Mr. Salm, a naturalised Jamaican,...

Local and international participants in the just-concluded Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX) are hailing the tourism trade show as a success, with several important business contacts made that could result in increased visitor arrivals to the island. President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), Omar Robinson, tells JIS News that from every indication, JAPEX 2019 “truly delivered” for Jamaica...