Faced with sluggish summer and fall seasons, Jamaica's new Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says he will be ramping up the country's marketing and promotions campaigns to reap bumper results heading into winter.

Bartlett, who officially assumed responsibility for the tourist industry last Friday, notes that there is a deficit of minus five per cent in tourist arrivals since the start of the year, which is negatively impacting the country's foreign exchange earnings.

"We are looking at a fall that has fallen, and visitor spend that has seen marked reduction," he told The Gleaner, minutes before addressing a large gathering of tourism stakeholders at a special reception at the Silent Waters Villa in Great River, Montego Bay, Saturday night.

'Full house' plan

Giving himself and his staff at the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) two weeks within which to implement a first-class marketing programme to take the industry through to December, the minister said he has asked Director of Tourism, Basil Smith, to craft elements of a strategic plan for the upcoming winter tourist season.

That plan, he noted, would be "complete with the promotional side, PR (public relations) side, hard advertising, straight media, in terms of television and magazines, a programme that can be taken to the rest of the industry, because they have to come in and play their part."

The plan comes at a time when several of the industry's stakeholders have aired concerns about the inadequate budgetary allocation to market the island's tourism product globally.

However, Minister Bartlett, who shadowed the Tourism portfolio in Opposition, says he has already placed Minister of Finance, Audley Shaw, on notice "that at a very early date we would be coming to seek support for this new marketing thrust".

This thrust entails the opening of a ministry office in Montego Bay, meetings with the JTB staff in Florida within a few weeks, establishing links with overseas tour operators, travel agents, wholesalers, airlines and advertising and public relations agencies, as well as a trip to the Far East to examine the emerging markets of China, India and Japan.

"China, India and Japan are very critical to this country, so is South America, so we will be forging some serious links," noted the minister.

China Caribbean Tourism Seminar

Tourism is the pillar industry of many Caribbean nations, which is also the pillar industry of Jamaica. As one of the Caribbean destination, JTB attended the Seminar on China-Caribbean Tourism Cooperation held on the afternoon of September 8 at Banquet Hall, 1F, Lingyun Pavilion, Xiamen Mandarin Hotel to discuss about the bright future for tourism cooperation between China and Caribbean countries.