Jamaica eyes India as untapped market for tourism
Published:Tuesday | September 12, 2023 | 12:11 AMJanet Silvera/Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Jamaica is looking at opportunities to build traffic out of India, after years of working with a representative in that market, Director of Tourism Donovan White shared during a Destination Update seminar yesterday at the 2023 Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX) under way at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James.
Optimistic about the potential that air service affords untapped markets such as the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Latin America and India, White told tourism stakeholders that he was encouraged by the work being done by an Indian representative agency run by Rajeev Manuel, who is currently attending JAPEX.
“They’ve (Manuel’s agency) served us exceedingly well. And we’re looking at the opportunities to build traffic, not just India, but also in connecting regions. There’s a huge Indian population in the United States, a significant lift, and a lot of the travel that happens, happens with Indian families,” he said in outlining the prospects.
As recent as last weekend, an Indian wedding at the Jewel Grande Montego Bay attracted several visitors to that resort. This recent special event followed another big one earlier in the year at the Hilton Rose Hall.
The Hyatt group also recently hosted a group of South Asian wedding planners at their property in August, to showcase their ability to handle this market, Marketing Manager Melissa Forbes shared.
“We are getting there and would want more,” Forbes admitted.
Commenting on the statements made by the tourism director, Indian high commissioner to Jamaica Masakui Rungsung told The Gleaner that Indians are coming to Jamaica from India, but in small numbers. However, he added, many of his people, mostly from the US and Canada, come to the island as tourists.
He, too, is expectant that there is huge potential for India tourists to come.
“Possible collaboration in the film industry, such as shooting in Jamaica, will open up vistas of opportunities,” he stated.
Another market the director spoke of was Poland in Eastern Europe, which Jamaica is putting its efforts behind. However, visitors from that region are looking for adventure and are not into mass attractions.
White, in the meantime, is celebrating the island’s good fortunes out of the United Kingdom, which will see Norse Airline begin service out of London Gatwick, bringing the number of carriers out of that airport to three. Also, in October, there will be new service from Toronto into the Sangster International Airport, Montego Bay.
“We are particularly proud of this development as we continue to diversify or seek capacity out of Canada, not just Toronto. We are obviously looking to go into some of the other regions of Canada,” White added.
He is also anticipating a more robust approach to airlift in November, with United Airlines, one of the largest carriers in the US, opening up service out of Denver, Colorado.
According to the tourism director, that’s a region Jamaica has not had airlift from before, although it is extremely strategic and will assist in covering the west coasts of the United States, enabling the Jamaica Tourist Board’s excellent planning.
With all the airlift comes seat availability and, this fall alone, Jamaica has some 890,000 airline seats at its disposal flying between Montego Bay and Kingston, 140,000 more than it had in 2022.
The numbers are evidenced in the forecast for stop-over and cruise ship arrivals for 2023, as the island looks to welcome a total of 3.88 million visitors to its shores.
This is a 5.5 per cent increase over 2019, the island’s largest arrival year.
By the end of the year, the country is estimated to earn US$4.2 billion from the tourism industry, said White.
It has been a fantastic year for the destination, he stated, noting that the island was seeing higher value travellers, the majority of them coming from the country’s largest source market, the US.
Other markets boosting the recovery from COVID-19, such as Canada, which stands at number two, steadily accounting for 13.2 per cent of the visitor count, while the UK and Europe account for 10.2 per cent.
In the absence of consistent and credible airlift, the Caribbean continues to struggle with only a 2.2 per cent contribution to the recovery efforts.