THE Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), intent on broadening consumer perception of the destination, is this week starting to flood the overseas media with advertisements showcasing the island’s diversity, as part of what appears to be an aggressive campaign to attract visitors this winter.

The ads, explained Director of Tourism Paul Pennicook, will emphasise the brand, as opposed to pricing, and will appear in the most widely-read and influential publications in the USA, Jamaica’s primary market, and Europe, as well as on television in both markets.

They will include brand and co-op spots with the island’s key tour operator partners and maintain continuous presence on television with a short hiatus over the American Thanksgiving holiday and Christmas, to avoid the normal clutter of retail advertising.

“We need to change the perception from Jamaica being a single-dimensional destination,” said Pennicook in reference to the dominance of the all-inclusive hotels in the marketplace. “We will be broadening that perception to incorporate all that Jamaica has to offer, that is, our diversity.”

As part of that effort, Pennicook told last Friday’s Fall Forum on Tourism at the Hilton Kingston Hotel, the JTB has published a new 32-page destination guide that covers all aspects of Jamaica:

* history and people;

* culture;

* geography;

* all resort areas;

* flora and fauna;

* shopping;

* meet the people programme; and

* attractions and places of interest.

The full colour destination guide, Pennicook added, incorporates the JTB’s information booklet titled Things to know before you go, which is distributed to the travel trade, as well as to potential visitors.

Additional versions of the destination guide are being developed in other languages and the JTB expects that the publication, as well as its new website — visitjamaica.com — will strengthen its drive to bring in 2.3 million visitors this year.

Pennicook apparently based this projection on the performance of the industry so far this year. He told guests at the forum that over the January to September period, stopover arrivals grew by 6.3 per cent, while cruise visitor arrivals were up 35 per cent. Combined, the figures represent a 17 per cent increase over the same period last year.

Of the projected 2.3 million visitors, the JTB expects that 1.2 million will be stopovers.

Available airlift was also another factor informing the JTB’s projection. “We have lots of seats,” Pennicook said and listed Air Jamaica, American Airlines, Air Canada, Continental Airlines, Delta Airlines, Northwest Airlines, USAir, British Airways, Martin Air, Condor, Lauda Air, and Britannia as some of the carriers serving the island.

But it was the JTB’s decision to place a heavy focus on niche marketing that appeared to impress many persons attending the forum.

Local artist, Allison Sinclair, publicly congratulated the JTB after Pennicook’s presentation, which included the showing of the island’s new television advertisements, as well as a slide presentation that illustrated some of the print ads specific to the island’s villas.

A special feature of the villa advertising programme is the presentation of complimentary handcrafted Jamaican gift baskets to persons booking villa holidays. The baskets, Pennicook said, will include Blue Mountain Coffee, Appleton Rum, Royal Jamaican Cigars, Tia Maria Liqueur, Walkerswood Jerk Sauce and other Jamaican products.

Jamaica Association of Villas and Apartments president, Vana Taylor, expressed pleasure with the programme. “I’m impressed with what has been done so far,” she told the Observer, while noting that the JTB had included the industry in the planning of the programme from early.

Pamella Fenton, the president of the Jamaica Association of Travel Agencies, was equally impressed. “You can see that a lot of thought went into how we market Jamaica,” she told the Observer after the forum.

Fenton also appealed to hotels to make their packages attractive to Jamaicans “so they can take advantage of them and get to know Jamaica”.