Incentive Travel: Incentive Travel

Jamaica Tourism Minister, the Hon. Edmund Bartlett has described Jamaica’s dominance of Wednesday’s World Travel Awards Caribbean & Americas Gala Ceremony as “pay-back for the hard work that the country has been doing in promoting the destination and its tourism product overseas.”

Speaking after Jamaica won several prestigious awards at the ceremony, which was held at the Sandals Royal Caribbean Hotel & Private Island in Montego Bay on October 19, 2011, Minister Bartlett said “as the leaders of the sector, we are humbled to be rewarded by the global tourism community for the energy and hard work which the team has done over the past year.” He added “ the fact that the energy and the vision has resulted in Jamaica leading the Caribbean, not only in terms of implementing an economic recession survival strategy but also to be earning multiple world awards, brings a sense of satisfaction.”

Jamaica won the Caribbean’s Leading Destination award for the sixth consecutive year, while the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) won the Caribbean’s Leading Tourist Board award for the fifth consecutive year. The destination was also named the Caribbean’s Leading Cruise Destination and was recognized for having the Caribbean’s Leading Cruise Port (Ocho Rios), the Caribbean's Leading Beach Destination (Negril), the Caribbean’s Leading Airport (Sangster International Airport), and the Caribbean’s Leading Meetings & Conference Centre (Montego Bay Convention Centre, Jamaica). Jamaica also received the Caribbean Achievement Award and was named the Caribbean's Leading Sports Tourism Destination, while the new Port of Falmouth was named the Caribbean's Leading Tourism Development Project.

Minister Bartlett expressed pleasure that local hotel mogul and Chairman of Sandals Resorts International, Mr. Gordon “Butch” Stewart, walked away with the Tourism Pioneer Award. He outlined that “we are delighted that Mr. Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart has received this prestigious award. I believe it is well deserved as he is truly the father of luxury-inclusive in the entire Caribbean. Jamaica is very proud that a home-grown brand has now become the worldwide standard by which luxury-inclusive products are judged.”

Director of Tourism Mr. John Lynch expressed that “we’re honoured to be recognized as the top Caribbean destination. These awards reaffirm that our tireless efforts to promote destination Jamaica, coupled with continued growth and refurbishment of our tourism infrastructure, have proven to be a successful strategy for the destination. We also want to congratulate our hotel partners for their stellar accomplishments as well as the aviation sector on their success. We look forward to continuing our strong relationships with our valued travel and airline partners.”

In commending the local tourism entities which also won awards, Minister Bartlett emphasized that “Jamaica remains a very attractive destination and the country’s performance and that of our resorts and partners at these awards have proven once again that our country will continue to see good results in terms of arrivals, guest satisfaction and indeed new developments.”