TOP British model turned photographer, Helena Christensen, was expected to arrive in the island yesterday to do a week-long photo shoot as part of a raft of sales, promotional and public relations activities planned by the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) to support its new Winter advertising campaign which started yesterday in the United States.

Christensen’s photos, which she plans to mount in her first exhibition, will focus on Jamaica’s heritage and culture and will be shot mostly in Negril, Treasure Beach and Kingston, the JTB said in a news release.

The new winter ads, which will run until February 16 in Jamaica’s key gateway markets of New York, Boston, Baltimore, Washington D C, Philadelphia, Houston, Atlanta and Chicago, appear on CNN, FOX News, BET, TNT, E! TBS, USA, VH-1, Food Network and Lifetime.

To support the campaign, the JTB has arranged a series of sales activities and familiarisation tours targeting travel agents in response to a sales survey conducted by NBC on likely travel patterns in 2002.

The survey showed that even “web savvy” consumers were more likely to refer to travel agents in making travel plans since September 11 when air travel almost dried up after the terrorist attacks on the United States.

According to the JTB, its programme for the winter also has substantial focus on press trips to the island for travel writers representing large circulation publications and television stations in key markets.

Promotional activities for the season include the highly successful television remote series in the US which continued on January 2 with Dule Hill of West Wing fame endorsing Jamaica from the Round Hill Hotel and Villas live on 22 stations.

Actress Jane Seymour will participate in a similar exercise from the Ritz Carlton on January 11.

Later this month, the JTB said, it will, in conjunction with New York magazine, undertake a promotion with Henri Bendel, one of New York’s most fashionable Fifth Avenue department stores. The promotion will feature Jamaican designer clothing, entertainment, artisans and cuisine with selected Jamaican specialty items on sale.

According to director of tourism, Fay Pickersgill, the Henri Bendel promotion is a part of the JTB’s plans for “Restoration of the Winter Mystique” as it relates to vacations in Jamaica at this time of year.

Other major events in the coming weeks include:

* the Air Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival scheduled for February 7 to 10 in Montego Bay to be covered by a multi-station radio remote with 115 stations across the USA, including two ABC radio network programmes;

* a reggae festival at the Universal City Walk in Orlando to mark Bob Marley’s birthday celebrations in February;

* the first Gospel Spring Festival, which has attracted strong interest from gospel stations across the US; and

* birthday celebrations by ABC­TV’s Star Jones of The View which takes place over four days in March.