Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett is placing special focus on the world’s most populated country, India, as a country to pull visitors from in coming years as part of a renewed campaign to diversify Jamaica’s tourist markets.

Jamaica gets the bulk of its visitors from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

“The Indian market initiatives are now fully on stream. We met with our partners and are beginning engagements later this year. There is a huge market for weddings, there is a confluence of cricket, a rapidly growing middle and upper middle class, over time better flight connectivity, and a very active Indian community in Jamaica itself will drive growth from this increasingly lucrative market,” noted Bartlett.

Bartlett arrived in Dubai on the weekend ahead for the Arabian Travel Market, the largest tourism tradeshow in the Middle East, accompanied by high-ranking team members director of tourism, Donovan White and senior advisor and strategist in the Ministry of Tourism, Delano Seiveright.

Jamaica’s new markets initiatives were initially heavily focused on South America for which significant gains were made just before the COVID-19 pandemic with new nonstop flights by South America’s largest air carrier LATAM between Lima, Peru and Montego Bay, Jamaica and up to 11 weekly flights between Panama City and Jamaica by COPA. The pandemic curbed those gains with Bartlett recently mandating his team to re-engage new markets growth efforts.

The Ministry of Tourism and the Jamaica Tourist Board are now focused on rebuilding the South American tourist markets, with a specific focus on Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Peru and are also placing special attention on India and sections of the Middle East for new market growth.

Bartlett’s Dubai itinerary includes a host of meetings, including with top government and private sector leaders as well as investors.