In just three short days - the Winter Tourist Season for 2007 - 2008 will be here. You might ask, 'Isn't Jamaica a year-round destination? Why do we continue to highlight December 15 as the official start of the winter season?'

Bartlett

Well, typically, private and public sector tourism interests take advantage of the post-summer pause to refurbish, restock, rethink, and, in general, renew all efforts to maximise our return from the island's leading economic sector. This kind of reflection is always a good thing, for life is optimally lived in cycles, and always there should be a time of reflection and renewal.

We are now mid-stride in observing Tourism Awareness Week under the theme 'Tourism, working for Jamaica', and I have been quite heartened by the level of collaboration across the public and private sectors (including civil society). This has been phenomenal as we 'got down' together to 'Spruce Up' Jamaica in thought, word and, indeed - in deed, often voluntarily.

whirlwind schedule

Since assuming office in September, I have been on an intense, whirlwind schedule of working meetings with local and overseas-based tourism and travel partners, including my new staff, our various communication contractors, local and international media, tour operators and investors. I have also taken advantage of these interface opportunities to reinforce the vision of my incumbency for 'the new tourism'. By now, you would have heard me say it several times - it is a vision of national development, with tourism at the core, resting on three support columns: marketing, product development and investment.

Some of this work is already bearing fruit with a post-summer turnaround of the slippage in tourism arrival figures. This trend also held for October, with preliminary figures showing an 8.5 per cent increase over last year's record breaking performance to clear 102,300 arrivals. We are confident that the numbers for cruise ship arrivals will move in the same direction, once the new strategies being contemplated with our international partners kick in fully.

In the interim, we have had nothing to be ashamed of, as we recently recaptured bragging rights as the number one Caribbean cruise shipping destination at the World Travel Awards, last month.

serious contenders

We also remain serious contenders to recapture last year's honours as the world's leading cruise ship destination, to be announced tonight in Turks and Caicos.

My final appeal is for all Jamaicans to realise what we have now, and how much more valuable it can become when we add more nurture to our natural environment and our naturally hospitable nature. That is why our next order of business, after a brief respite from our intense preparations for this winter season, will be a national campaign on the value and efficacy of high touch service.

One Love!

Edmund C. Bartlett, M.P.
Minister of Tourism

Thanks Ja, we feel at home

The first of the three hotels to be built in Jamaica by the Spanish Group Ibérostar was officially opened on December 1, 2007, and the event was witnessed by some of the island's leaders, political authorities and many Jamaican friends.

I wish to congratulate the Ibérostar Group, present in many countries, which has now embraced Jamaica as part of their family. This group was started by the Fluxa family, a good example of the early pioneers of Spanish tourism, many of whom originated in Mallorca, an island half the size of Jamaica and which has become one of the wealthiest regions in Europe thanks to tourism.

The Ibérostar Group has brought to Jamaica their efficient model of tourism service for an international clientele. It has embraced the people by creating in this first phase more than 450 new jobs, 55 per cent of which are held by Jamaicans for whom it is their first employment experience.

training

The group has been engaged in a training policy to incorporate Jamaica's renown hospitality and friendliness to the modern, high-quality and cost-effective tourism industry of the 21st century.

Let me, therefore, congratulate Mr. Fluxa and his family of Ibérostar employees, especially those Jamaicans, for the enthusiasm shown and their efforts in making the Jamaican industry proud of this new hotel.

I also wish to thank the Jamaicans for giving the Ibérostar Group a wholehearted welcome and for making every effort to make them feel at home and a part of the ambitious national scope of letting Jamaica become one of the most efficient and attractive tourism destinations in the Caribbean region and in the world as a whole.

Jesus Silva
Ambassador of Spain
President of the Spanish-Jamaican Foundation