GREEN ISLAND, Hanover — Jamaica is aggressively targeting the US$180-billion global wedding industry, with Deputy Director of Tourism Philip Rose confident that the island is well-positioned to capture a significant portion of this lucrative niche.

“The destination wedding business globally is massive. It is huge. It would be prudent of us to make sure that Jamaica got our fair share of that business,” said Rose, who has responsibility for the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean.

He was speaking with the Jamaica Observer, Tuesday, on the sidelines of the Love Caribbean: Jamaica Edition 2026 conference which is being held at Princess Grand Jamaica Hotel in Green Island, Hanover. The conference, which started Monday, ends today.

The Jamaica Tourist Board-sponsored event is a premier professional conference for wedding planners, travel advisors, and industry experts focusing on destination weddings and romance travel.

“While we have a team globally speaking about all the wonderful things that Jamaica has to offer, the best way to truly sell Jamaica is to have our partners — in this case, wedding planners — come down to Jamaica and experience it first-hand. This has been a quite fruitful endeavour for us, and we expect a good return on this investment,” added Rose.

The event was organised by the International Association of Destination Wedding Professionals (IADWP) which has been in existence for the past 18 years.

While the IADWP has been hosting the World Romance Travel Conference (WRTC) since its launch, this is the inaugural Love Caribbean Jamaica Edition. The Jamaica leg was officially launched on October 28, the same day Hurricane Melissa devastated some southern and western parishes on the island. Rose noted that this year’s staging of the event is a powerful testament to the country’s recovery.

“Having this event here on the island is another opportunity for us to show the world that we are arguably, without a doubt, the most resilient people — and we’re resilient with a smile, which is very unique to Jamaica,” he argued.

According to information provided by the JTB’s Tamara Christie-Johnson, the global wedding industry is worth US$180 billion, of which 25 per cent (US$45 billion) are destination weddings. A breakdown of the destination weddings market has shown that the industry earned US$36.2 billion in 2024 and US$47.78 billion in 2025. Ongoing trends have forecast the industry to earn US$124.6 billion by 2032.

President and founder of the IADWP Kitzia Morales said a group of 250 people from 16 countries are in Jamaica for the conference. They are from countries including Pakistan, India, Italy, the US, Canada, Colombia, and Mexico.

Morales noted there was never any hesitation in moving forward with the event, despite Jamaica’s ongoing recovery from last year’s storm.

“This is the time that you need the people back. This is the time that you need the money to recover. And this is why we know that we are in the right time and in the right place,” she insisted.

Morales told the Observer that Jamaica is currently the number-one Caribbean island for destination weddings.

“You have a very, very well-developed strategy for destination weddings and you have been doing this for a long time. You have a lot of experience promoting Jamaica as a place for weddings,” stated the IADWP president.

“Of course, Jamaica has big competitors around, like Mexico and the Dominican Republic, but in terms of the English-speaking Caribbean islands, Jamaica is, with no question, the number one. It is the leader,” added Morales.

She pointed to factors that have shaped that success.

“There are two very important things. The Jamaica Tourist Board, more than 15 years ago, understood that there was a niche that could be very good for Jamaica. They started to do things that no other destination had done before, like doing this carpet for the couples in the airport, plus a big promotion of Jamaica as a romantic place.

“But… you cannot do that alone and I think that a lot of the resorts here in Jamaica, they took this piece of business as one of their main business. This is why Jamaica was able to get this leadership — because of the work together of the hotels and the tourist board,” she posited.

The IADWP president thinks the country will be able to maintain its number one position.

“Jamaica will always be Jamaica. And this is why we are doing this kind of effort, this conference — so people know and understand that even though you just went through the hurricane, you have the biggest resilience; and that their guests, they’re gonna be fine when they come to Jamaica. Because the resorts are ready, the people in Jamaica are ready to receive them,” explained Morales.

“It is very important to remember that each destination wedding benefits 72 economic activities. Because it goes from the person that makes the make-up, to the producer of flowers, and the plantain producer, and the rum producer, drivers, tours, everything,” she added.

Deputy director of Tourism Philip Rose having a conversation with Princess Grand Jamaica Hotel marketing and public relations manager Serene Lloyd on the sidelines of the Love Caribbean: Jamaica Edition 2026 conference, which is being held at the Princess Grand Jamaica Hotel in Green Island, Hanover, on Tuesday.  (Photo: Anthony Lewis)