KINGSTON, Jamaica —Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett has embarked on a local vacation, more popularly known as a ‘staycation’, which will take him across the island to review the various tourism products being used to encourage more Jamaicans to choose to vacation at home.

“I will over the next couple of days visit several hotels and attractions island wide as part of a re-familiarisation tour to test our tourism products and offerings. It is critical that as tourism minister, I have first-hand knowledge of what destination Jamaica has to offer with a view to ensuring that what we advertise is what we are indeed offering,” Bartlett was quoted in a release from his ministry.

“It is also a way to remind Jamaicans that vacationing at home is also a viable option that will allow them to truly appreciate what millions oversees travel to experience yearly” said Bartlett.

Jamaica has several attractions and tours including plantation tours and great houses, dolphin parks and nature reserves, museums, galleries and soft adventure tours. In terms of accommodations, currently, the island’s room stock exceeds 26,000, the release said.

As a popular tourism destination, the island has received numerous global awards over the years including World’s Leading Wedding Destination and Leading Cruise Destination. In March this year, Jamaica was awarded the prestigious Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA) International Travel Award under the Category ‘Jamaica – Best Adventure Destination. The PATWA International Awards have an earned a reputation as one of the most coveted and sought after awards of the travel trade and are now in their 18th year since they were incepted in 1999.

“Our consistent international recognition as a leading destination and 42 per cent repeat guest rate is not by accident, but due to our professional and warm tourism workers as well as our deliberate strategies for product development and assurance. We are therefore committed to improving our products and service delivery at every level of the tourism value chain,” Bartlett added.