Jamaica tops World Travel Awards

Jamaica and Jamaican companies emerged the big winners at the World Travel Awards (WTA) Grand Finale Gala Ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal, on Saturday night, winning eight of the coveted awards.

Notably, Jamaica received the World's Leading Beach Destination and World's Leading Cruise Destination for 2018.

In highlighting the significance of the awards, Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett, who, along with chairman of the Jamaica Tourist Board, John Lynch, was present at the event, said, "I am truly proud to have been able to share in this moment. It highlights that Jamaica's tourism product is of the highest quality and remains top of mind for millions of visitors who come to our shores. Jamaica competed with the best of the best across the globe and has emerged a global winner, an acknowledgement of the hard work and innovation being done in the sector."

Delano Seiveright, senior adviser and strategist in the tourism ministry, noted that several Jamaican entities received the remaining awards.

Among them:

- World's Leading Luxury Hotel Villa, 2018 - Fleming Villa at GoldenEye

- World's Leading Villa Resort 2018 - Round Hill Hotel & Villas

- World's Leading All-inclusive Company 2018 - Sandals Resorts International

- World's Leading Family Resort Brand 2018 - Beaches Resorts

- World's Leading Caribbean Attraction Company 2018 - Island Routes Caribbean Adventures

- World's Leading Adventure Tour Operator 2018 - Chukka Caribbean Adventures

The event marked the climax of the WTA Grand Tour 2018 - an annual search for the finest travel and tourism organisations in the world. Government and industry leaders, luminaries, and international print and broadcast media from across the globe were in attendance. The WTA was established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate excellence across all sectors of the tourism industry.

"Jamaica is poised for exponential growth in tourism and with this growth we will seek to be more innovative and provide more to our discerning visitors who come to get a taste of all the things we have to offer," the minister pointed out.

Bartlett will travel to Istanbul, Turkey, to speak at the third UNWTO-UNESCO World Conference on 'Tourism and Culture: For the Benefit of All', which will be hosted by the government of Turkey from December 3-5.

He returns to Jamaica on Thursday.