Spirit Airlines will begin direct service from Bradley International Airport, Hartford, Connecticut, United States, to Montego Bay, on December 15.

The airline will provide four weekly non-stop flights and is the first to offer this service to Jamaica from Hartford.

Speaking at a recent Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’, Director of Tourism, Jamaica Tourist Board, Donovan White, said the service will provide additional marketing opportunities, and for the island “to pull on traffic that may have been intended for other destinations.”

“We welcome these opportunities. It has been one that we have been working assiduously on and anticipating now for some time. So, to have it come to fruition, it is absolutely redounding to the hard work by the team,” he said.

Connecticut has the third largest population of Jamaicans in the United States behind Miami and New York.

White said the direct connection would make it convenient for travellers and easier for tourists to choose Jamaica.

“It gives our Business Development Officers in the marketplace an additional region to focus on, in terms of driving our marketing, and in driving our sales and promotional activities,” he added.

Meanwhile, activities are being planned to mark this year’s observance of Tourism Awareness Week, slated for September 25 to October 1 under the theme: ‘Rethinking Tourism’.

The events will include a church service, the virtual Edmund Bartlett lecture series, the launch of an online resource guide, the ‘Style Jamaica’ runway show, a tourism opportunities visionary symposium, a youth forum, a special virtual knowledge forum, the official launch of the innovation-based tourism incubator, a tourism stakeholder engagement activity, and a youth poster competition.