ROSE HALL, St James — Tourism Minister Dr Wykeham McNeill is brimming with confidence that the upcoming winter tourist season, which officially starts today will be a successful one.

“The outlook for the winter season is positive,” said an upbeat McNeill who was addressing the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s luncheon held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre (MBCC) where the season was officially launched.

The tourism minister’s optimism hinges on the proposed 15 per cent increase in airlift in comparison to the previous season.

“A total of 1.2 million seats are proposed for the season, an increase of 15 per cent over the same period in 2013/2014,” he said, adding that “The USA is up over 58,000 seats and there is an overall increase of approximately 163,000 seats to Jamaica.”

Additionally, the tourism minister who projected that gross foreign exchange earnings are to increase by 4.6 per cent also forecasted that there will be growth in cruise visitor arrivals.

The winter season is expected to record 611,515 cruise passengers, a 5.6 per cent increase over last winter. This follows an expected 10 per cent increase in cruise ship arrivals in 2014, with the piers at Falmouth and Montego Bay leading the improvement,” Dr McNeill revealed.

“As I recently announced, we will have the advantage of the ‘Thomson Dream’ home-porting in Montego Bay as a result of which we get four additional flights coming out of the United Kingdom into the Sangster International Airport.”

McNeill also announced plans for the convention centre “to begin fulfilling its tremendous potential in the meetings and conventions sector”.

He noted that US$300,000 per year will be allocated for up to three years by the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) to assist the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) in financing the marketing programme for the Convention Centre , which he described as “a major step toward the goal of firmly placing this facility on the map for conventions”.

He further revealed that a marketing plan is now in place to for the facility.

“A marketing plan is in place and a joint marketing committee chaired by Director of Tourism Mr Paul Pennicook will manage the marketing budget. The committee comprises representatives from UDC, the MBCC Board, Jamaica Tourist Board, TEF and other industry partners,” the tourism minister outlined.

As part of the funding arrangement with the TEF, the Western offices of JTB and Tourism Product Development Company have been relocated to the Montego Bay Convention Centre. This physical move will consolidate operations and amenities while facilitating the synergies that exist between the JTB and the Montego Bay Convention Centre.”

McNeill also announced that a new regional director has been appointed in the Montego Bay office and has been mandated to establish that office as the operational hub of the JTB in Jamaica.

— Horace Hines