Durrant Pate/Contributor
Discussions are underway to strengthen the relationship between Jamaica and Saudia Holidays, the official tour operator of Saudia Airlines that operates flights to over 100 destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe and North America.
Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett lead the discussions last Tuesday (May 7) with his senior tourism team and head of Saudia Holidays, Omar Kwarjah.
The minister is leading Jamaica’s delegation at the Arabian Travel Market, a leading global event enabling growth for the travel and tourism industry with 41 thousand participants attending this year’s staging.
According to Bartlett, “Getting an arrangement in place with Saudia Holidays is critical to enabling us to promote the destination and fill airline seats through the multiple code-sharing partnerships available. Through this partnership, we will be able to promote content around Jamaica’s destination offerings to increase our attractiveness in the region.”
Saudia Holidays, one of the largest tour operators in the region, offers its clients the ability to make reservations with more than 900,000 service providers.
The minister cited the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region as a critical region that Jamaica is targeting, as an emerging market and partnerships like these will help the island in its strategic planning to attract more visitors.
For his part, Director of Tourism, Donovan White remarked, “The arrangement would also include familiarization trips for top agents and tour operators at Saudia Holidays to give them a taste and feel of Jamaica so they will be in a position of knowledge to sell the destination in the region.”
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