MINISTER of Tourism Edmund Bartlett has singled out Argentina as a critical part of Jamaica’s push to attract 250,000 more visitors from Latin America (Latam) to Jamaica over the next five years.

Argentina is home to popular international football player Lionel Messi and with a population of 45 million and represents the largest market for Jamaica in Latam.

“We recognise the importance of increasing arrivals from this large and influential country in our overall strategy to fully re-engage Latam. Before the pandemic, we welcomed over approximately 7,000 visitors from Argentina and seemed poised to significantly improve those numbers, but the pandemic hit. Now, as we rebuild in the region, Argentina will be a key focus for us,” said Bartlett.

He was speaking at a special luncheon that hosted more than 120 of Jamaica’s travel, trade, and media partners at the Four Seasons Hotel in Argentina on Monday.

“Our culture and tourism offerings resonate with Argentinians, and we are working to keep those offerings attractive for them to come,” said Donovan White, director of tourism.

Bartlett is currently on a sales mission to Latam to speak with several key tourism partners that include airlines, tour operators, and the media. He will also make stops in Chile and Peru.

The Latin America region has more than 600 million people and represents one of the largest source markets for Jamaica.

According to Bartlett, with travel fully returned and the potential of new airlift out of the region, Jamaica is building out strategies to attract these visitors.

Copa Airlines remains the strongest airline partner with an increased frequency of four flights weekly to Montego Bay and Kingston, with the aim of providing five flights weekly by the first quarter of 2024.

“Now is the time for Jamaica, a sought-after destination, to leverage this very lucrative market as part of our drive to welcome five million visitors by 2025.

“With 20,000 rooms coming on stream in Jamaica, we will need to engage our airline partners for more airlift and seats, our tour operators, and create more investment to support this drive,” said Bartlett.

Over the course of eight days, Bartlett and other tourism officials will visit Buenos Aires in Argentina, Santiago in Chile and Lima, Peru. Bartlett and members of the team have undertaken a full slate of scheduled engagements which involves a series of meetings with representatives of various local authorities, ministries of tourism and Copa Airlines, one of the major carriers in the region.