Jamaica showcased the best of its heritage in food, dance and music on Monday (May 20) as it laid out the red carpet for over 1,000 delegates now attending the 42nd Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association’s (CHTA) Caribbean Travel Marketplace now being held in Montego Bay.

The delegates, drawn from more than 45 countries were feted and entertained regally as the front lawn of Jamaica’s historic Rose Hall Great House was transformed for the colourful welcome event, offering a choice of delicacies representing Jamaica’s cultural diversity, the Caribbean sound of a steel pan band, exciting reggae and fire dancers.

The entertainment package also included the appearance of a colourful costumed group, a special performance by Jamaican musician Tessanne Chin and a riveting drone show. This welcome event marked the official start of the tourism tradeshow which runs from May 20 to 23 at the Montego Bay Conference Centre, and is the region’s premier trade event.

Opportunities for marketing and networking 

It is being hosted jointly by the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) and the CHTA along with various tourism partners.

In her welcome message, CHTA president Nicola Madden-Greig said this conference will give all local suppliers of tourism products and services the opportunity to network, deepen relationships and conduct business with new buyers from across the globe to promote their products and the destination.”

Madden-Greig, who is in her third and final year in the position, highlighted the benefits of the event saying, “We find ourselves immersed in the vibrant tapestry of Caribbean culture, hospitality and unparalleled natural beauty.”

She said the marketplace served to identify new source markets, addressing the need for diversification and emphasizing the need for continued growth while exploiting the boundless opportunities that the Caribbean has to offer.

In that regard, Madden-Greig disclosed that over 12,500 appointments had been scheduled for the event, and with the prospect for another 32.5 million visitors across the region, “creating opportunities for local companies taking advantage of that potential visitor spending.”

Post COVID-19 recovery

Welcoming the delegates, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett stressed that the marketplace is the biggest tradeshow for tourism in the Caribbean and that it signalled “the renewal of tourism since COVID.”

Addressing what tourism means to the region, post COVID-19, Bartlett underscored that “we in the Caribbean who are the most tourism-dependent region on planet earth, a dependence that reflects itself from seven per cent per cent of GDP in Guyana to 95 per cent of GDP in places like Aruba and Antigua and Barbuda, which means that more than 20 per cent of all the jobs in the Caribbean are driven by tourism.”

Pointing out that this represented over one million people in the Caribbean having employment in the tourism industry, Bartlett highlighted that a significant portion of the foreign exchange that’s generated in the Caribbean is from tourism; “so for us, a recovery is not just a hope, it’s not a wish, it’s not a desire; it’s an imperative.”

Asserting that the Caribbean was now fully recovered from the fallout caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism minister said it was also “growing now in double digits over 2019.”

Caribbean Travel Marketplace is being attended by a host of Government and private sector industry leaders, including chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), Kenneth Bryan, a host of other tourism ministers and senior executives from other islands. Also attending Monday night’s opening event was US Ambassador to Jamaica Nick Perry.