Mister and Miss Tourism Jamaica ready to push Brand Ja
Published:Monday | July 8, 2024 | 8:15 AMJanet Silvera/Gleaner Writer
Western Bureau:
Jamaica’s hospitality sector has recently been gifted with two additional ambassadors following the crowning of Mister and Miss Tourism Jamaica 2024 Darren Bennett and Jolon Dewar.
Both were crowned during the grand finale of the third edition of the NYRC Tourism grand finale held at the Half Moon Conference Centre recently.
Bennett, a 24-year-old science teacher at the Little London High School in Westmoreland, and Dewar, who is attending university in South Korea, will both share scholarships towards their future studies, cash prizes of $100,000 each, in addition to trophies, gift baskets, certificates, among other prizes.
Runners-up Omar Lewis and Alyiah Harwood also walked away with certificates, gift baskets and other prizes. The two other finalists were Khalil Wright and Thianna Graham.
Meanwhile, both winners are chomping at the bits to promote Brand Jamaica.
Dewar, who is on internship at the Sangster International Airport in the tourism resort city of Montego Bay, said she is ready to push Brand Jamaica.
“I’m interested in tourism because I’m a tourist in another country, too, so I want to improve our tourism industry. I’m looking forward to basically expanding my knowledge. I love learning about people’s cultures and I love educating and improving myself. So I can’t wait to just have a new experience that I can grow from hopefully, and learn something new that I can bring back to Jamaica,” the newly crowned Miss Tourism Jamaica said.
She adds that as a natural brand ambassador, she is convinced Jamaica will benefit tremendously from her win.
“In [South] Korea, I’ve told people about Jamaica and they’ve come here before to see me,” she added.
For Bennett, the Little London High School science teacher shared that he was also eager to commence promoting the nation’s tourism product.
“I am feeling ecstatic. It is indeed a new experience for me and I can say that I feel successful. I am very happy with the outcome of the pageant and I look forward to as Mr Tourism, doing my best to represent Jamaica,” he said.
As he welcomed the two new tourism ‘ambassadors’, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett lauded the promoters of the pageant.
“We give support to a lot of private-sector initiatives [which continue] to help [the industry] connect with [others]... we encourage a lot more people, especially young people [to get involved],” he said.
As Bennett and Dewar secured the lion’s share of the sectional prizes, the writing was indelibly written on the wall who the eventual winners would be.
They both copped the People’s Choice Award, Best Tourism Speaker and Best Formal Wear categories. They were also the most outstanding in their respective categories in the talent section, as Bennett wooed patrons with his rendition of Bob Marley’s Redemption Song, while Dewar, who displayed her DJ prowess, thrilled with crowd-pleasing selections.
Meanwhile, Omar Lewis and Alyiah Harwood were winners in the Best Physique category.
Only 30 per cent of the results of the judging took place on the night of the grand finale. The other 70 per cent were prejudged ahead of the show.
The six finalists, who were all asked to respond to the same question, “How can individual travellers make their trips more sustainable?”, gave good account of themselves.
Bennett and Dewar both attributed hard work to the final outcome.
“It was extremely difficult. I thought pageantry was a walk in the park. I thought it was buying a suit and walking across the stage, but, indeed, it has its intricacies. But is manageable if you’re determined,” Bennett said.
Dewar concurred.
“It feels surreal and ecstatic. It just feels like if you work hard for your dreams you can achieve, ‘cause I work really hard day and night. It was very competitive, but in the end I persevered and I won, so I feel really good about it,” Dewar said.
As the grand finale progressed, they both grew in confidence that they would emerge winners.