Campari a plus for Italian tourist growth

Milan, Italy:

Jamaica's tourism minister Edmund Bartlett on Monday met with Campari Group Chairman and Italian billionaire, Luca Garavoglia, at the multinational giant’s Milan, Italy headquarters, to build out a firm collaborative approach to marketing Jamaica’s tourism product in Italy and other European countries.

Campari Group, the world’s sixth-largest premium spirits maker, has expended close to US$500 million in the purchase of J. Wray and Nephew and other investments including US$7.2 million in the Joy Spence Appleton Estate Rum Experience in St Elizabeth. The facility has the capacity to accommodate 200,000 visitors/tourists on an annual basis thereby opening up Jamaica’s southern interior to increased tourism activities. The incorporation of the Appleton Rum which is famous in several international markets and is being pushed to Campari’s near 200 markets globally have opened the door for extensive collaboration on the tourism front.

Bartlett is currently in Europe meeting with a range of travel industry stakeholders as part of efforts to further boost output from the continent which saw several markets recording double digits increases last year.

“Europe is a mix of dynamic and important markets which overall registered an increase in stopover arrivals last year of 16.6 per cent over 2015. Italy is the third most important, in terms of annual numbers, after the United Kingdom and Germany, with approximately 13,700 visitors last year, that is a 44.5 per cent increase over 2015. Campari Group is very well established and respected. It’s significant Jamaican involvement opens the door for innovative partnerships,” Bartlett said from Milan, Italy.

Bartlett also announced additional airlift out of Italy, with Italian leisure airline Neos upgrading it’s aircraft used on its weekly charter scheduled service between Milan and Montego Bay from a Boeing 767 to a brand new and larger Boeing 787 Dreamliner starting May.

Bartlett is joined in Europe by JTB head, Donovan White, senior adviser/strategist Delano Seiveright and Europe-based JTB executives. 

"Jamaica currently enjoys two weekly direct flights by Neos from the Italian cities of Milan and Verona and Montego Bay. Bartlett set a target to increase arrivals out of Italy by at least 50 percent by 2021, bringing in 20,000 Italian tourists annually by that year. While Negril is most popular for Italians, travel operators are now noting Montego Bay's increasing popularity." noted Seiveright.