MONTEGO BAY, St James — High Commissioner of India to Jamaica Mayank Joshi anticipates that with the right marketing, coupled with direct flights between the two countries, more Indian tourists would flock to the Caribbean island.

“I look at Jamaica as a very beautiful destination with its beautiful beaches, its green mountains, hiking trails, waterfalls. I think with a good campaign… many Indians would be very happy to come to Jamaica as a tourist destination,” the diplomat remarked during a media briefing in Montego Bay last Friday.

“If they are able to come up with some kind of a good package of outreach and raising awareness amongst Indians, many Indians would be very happy to come to Jamaica.”

Joshi was appointed to his post in June and last Friday he had his first round of official visits to Montego Bay. Planned stops included meetings with Mayor of Montego Bay Richard Vernon, president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry Oral Heaven, Custos of St James Bishop Conrad Pitkin, representatives from the police force and a tour of Indian businesses in the city.

In addition to the great potential he sees from Indians tapping into the growth taking place in Montego Bay, by investing in the western resort city, the high commissioner also thinks there are opportunities in one specific niche of the tourism market: weddings.

“For Indians, they look at exotic destinations and I’m sure the Caribbean is one of that is very high in the listing,” said Joshi.

He said Jamaica stands to benefit, generally, from a boost in leisure travel by Indians.

“With the rapid increase in the [Indian] economy, the disposable income amongst Indians is very high now and a large number of Indians are now travelling abroad for tourism,” the high commissioner noted.

He thinks there is already a strong foundation on which to build.

“In 2020, Jamaica opened its High Commission in Delhi and now with that in place, the strength of our linkage has grown stronger and it’s now a very important part of raising awareness between the two countries,” he said.

Joshi said Jamaica’s “liberal visa policy” was already a plus — for both sides.

“Indian passport holders do not require a visa to come to Jamaica so that is a very strong point in getting more Indians to travel to Jamaica,” he remarked.

He spoke of the boost that can come from adding direct flights from India to Jamaica, to bolster the “large number” of indirect flights now available to the Caribbean with stops in the US, UK or Canada.

“Connectivity is a very important in bringing two nations closer. It will be very, very useful and wonderful if there could be a direct flight between India and Jamaica. But I still see some time before that happens,” Joshi conceded.