KINGSTON, Jamaica —Jamaica’s Miss Universe, second runner up, Davina Bennett and Miss World top ten finisher and Miss World Caribbean, Solange Sinclair will tonight make their first official public appearance at a glitzy black tie dinner and awards ceremony for the Global Tourism Conference being held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.

“We are all impressed by their achievements which has given Jamaica a lot of positive publicity auguring very well for our tourism product, and minister Bartlett thought it very important that they share in this historic conference,” said Delano Seiveright, senior advisor and strategist at the Ministry of Tourism.

Billed as the most high-profile dinner and awards ceremony for the year, Bennett and Sinclair will join Prime Minister Andrew Holness; President of the Dominican Republic, Danilo Medina; Prime Minister of St Lucia, Allen Chastanet; Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), Taleb Rafai; Secretary General of the Organisation of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro; Bartlett, and other top level local, regional and international officials at the function.

Seiveright said that they will also be joined by a raft of global tourism business leaders, including Dominican Republic business tycoon, Frank Raineri; founder and president of the Punta Cana Group; Japanese business leader, Hakuhiko Ishii, who is Director of Overseas Market Development for Japan’s largest airline, All Nippon Airways (ANA); Silicon Valley business tycoon Chris Lehane of AirBNB; Spanish hotel mogul, Abel Matutes; owner and director general of the Palladium Hotel Group, Steven Paganelli; one of the world’s largest travel site and cruise industry leaders Arnold Donald of Carnival Corporation; and Adam Goldstein of Royal Caribbean Cruises Limited.

A first for the Western Hemisphere, The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), Government of Jamaica, World Bank Group and Inter-American Development Bank Global Conference on Jobs and Inclusive Growth: Partnerships for Sustainable Tourism is being held from November 27 to 29 at the Montego Bay Convention Centre and has approximately 1,300 delegates registered.

Balford Henry