The operators of Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) in Kingston say if it is to attract more tourists and shed the image of being a business or VFR (visiting friends and relatives) airport, its stakeholders need to do more to help wipe out several negatives.

The airport, which is the primary gateway for business travel to and from Jamaica and for the movement of air freight, caters to more than 1.7 million passengers and handles more than 70 per cent of the island’s air cargo each year. However, the entity has seen a decline in traffic due to routes being dropped by some carriers.

Last Friday, Sitara English-Byfield, CEO of PAC Kingston Airport Limited (PACKAL), operators of NMIA, in addressing concerns raised by an in-bond store operator about the airport’s plans to bring more flights into Kingston, said the entity has been teaming with Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) to do so.

The issue had also been raised by Opposition People’s National Party spokesman on housing, transportation and works Mikael Phillips, who questioned how PACKAL planned to increase the throughput of passengers through NMIA.

“I had my own concerns when GAP (Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico, which owns PACKAL) won the tender for NMIA [while] also having Sangster International Airport and how it is we saw it as an Opposition, how it would grow both airports without one suffering for the other,” he said.

Responding, English-Byfield said: “In terms of growth, us at PACKAL believe that Kingston needs to shed that image of a VFR airport. We are an international airport, tourists can fly into Norman Manley and get to any location, especially St Thomas, Ocho Rios, St Ann, Portland, and we are trying to work to get rid of that box.”

“The JTB has been very helpful, contrary to popular belief… with the consistent help of GAP we have consultants that assist us with creating business cases to approach various airlines,” English-Byfield told the forum organised by PACKAL.

She, however, pointed out that, “Travel agents do not suggest Kingston when someone says they want to go on vacation.”

“The VFR that we get typically book their own travel, but we want the travel agents to be able to suggest Kingston as an alternative to be able to get to Ocho Rios for instance. The one thing that Montego Bay has is the partnership with the hotels, where the hotels do not want empty beds, so they fill the plane seats; so the hotel creates a package and the package is through Montego Bay. Kingston needs some of that. JTB has been helping us and we are hoping for some fruit from the work we have been doing,” the PACKAL CEO said.

Additionally, she said there were other perceptions that need to be addressed where transportation was concerned.

“One thing that the travel agents say is that the tourists don’t feel safe arriving in Kingston and just stepping out to try to find transportation. Currently you cannot pre-book your transportation when you get to Kingston, whereas you can in Montego Bay because you buy a package that comes with the tour bus to take you to your hotel. There are hardly any packages being sold for Kingston. That’s another thing we are working on to create a separate area where persons can exit to go to their bus or private transportation. We have that in the pipeline, we are working to having it done,” English-Byfield stated.

“Maybe I should take this opportunity to say, with all the work that JTB, PACKAL, GAP is doing our stakeholders need to do some work,” she said.

“So our stakeholders have some work to do if the kind of person you have is soliciting, where you cannot use the restroom without somebody asking you for money, when you come to get your bags somebody is asking you for money, that is not the kind of area that tourists will want to get to,” she noted.

“Travel agents might travel through here and meet that and they do not promote Kingston, so we have some work to do internally, where all of us have to shed not just the VFR but the hustle mentality that exists in Kingston; we all have to shed it, if we want to see traffic grow in Kingston. It’s all hands on deck,” the PACKAL CEO declared.