Bond bounce
Movie release, marketing push catapult Jamaica to leader in travel demand
Published:Friday | November 12, 2021 | 12:11 AMJanet Silvera/Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
With Jamaica trending as the most searched by tourists globally and the country’s name being kept alive in the marketplace due to the new James Bond movie, tourism officials are looking to boost their aggressive marketing campaign by offering specialised experiences for fans of 007 who flock to the island.
Director of Tourism Donovan White yesterday noted that Amadeus – the world’s most interconnected IT company, which does some 8.5 billion travel transactions daily – reported yesterday that Jamaica is leading the world in terms of demand, outpacing all other destinations.
“The demand for Jamaica as of now is 38 per cent of 2019 against the world demand of 24 per cent. This is seats capacity flown or is committed or scheduled to be flown to the destination,” explained White.
PROMISING OUTLOOK
The buoyancy being experienced by the island is so promising that in terms of international passengers, Jamaica is now at 45 per cent of 2019 levels against the world delivery of passenger of 31 per cent.
And by way of the global distribution system (GDS) or travel agent booking platform, the country is now enjoying a comfortable 61 per cent of 2019 levels versus 28 per cent for the world.
According to White, the United States, the country’s largest source market was reporting a very strong commercial appetite, particularly, for the winter tourist season, which commences December 15.
There is also pent up demand coming out of Canada, the country’s second largest source market, owing to the fact that Canadians have had to wait for almost 18 months to travel internationally.
The country’s number one foreign exchange earner, tourism, had taken a massive hit due to COVID-19, but was now recovering.
“We are doing some good things and we are doing some right things,” boasted Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, who recently returned from a series of trips overseas, the latest being the World Travel Market in London.
White noted that the Jamaica Tourist Board was capitalising on the release of No Time To Die with the creation of a micro site, in addition to building out the Bond Experience for the long term.
Initially, there will be virtual Bond experiences of the three films in the 007 series that were partially filmed in Jamaica – Dr No (released in 1962), Live and Let Die (1973), and No Time to Die (2021).
“So the team is actively now developing what we will term for now The Bond Trail, which will be, initially, a virtual experience that you can have on the Bond microsite, which will be a spin-off site of visitjamaica.com.
The JTB is also looking at some physical experiences at all Jamaican locations where parts of the Bond films were shot.