JAMAICA is exploring stronger air links with Africa, including a possible connection through Accra, Ghana, as the Government looks to the continent for new visitors, tourism investment and partnerships.

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, speaking at Monday’s official launch of the 36th Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX), said Africa is increasingly being viewed as a major frontier for Jamaica’s tourism industry, with efforts underway to strengthen air connectivity, attract visitors, and deepen investment ties between the continent and the Caribbean.

Highlighting travel and connectivity as key areas for cooperation, Bartlett said discussions are taking place with partners in Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana and Zanzibar on strengthening links between Africa and the Caribbean.

Among the possibilities being explored is an air connection between Accra, Ghana and Jamaica.

“We are currently looking at how to utilise that [connection] as the hub for West Africa,” he noted.

The proposed arrangement could also facilitate travel from major African cities, such as Lagos, to Jamaica while positioning the island as a potential gateway to other Caribbean destinations.

Bartlett said the strategy, which extends beyond attracting African visitors, also aims to encourage greater investment from the continent in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean.

“The objective is not simply just to attract more African visitors to Jamaica, but to also develop a two-way tourism and investment relationship…these are the elements that make tourism happen,” he said.

Beyond attracting visitors and investments, Bartlett said Jamaica also wants to strengthen institutional and academic links with African countries.

“In November of this year we will launch a centre at the University of Sierra Leone in Freetown. And then we’ll lead from there to Nigeria and to Ghana for similar efforts,” Bartlett stated.

Through the Africa initiative, aimed at bringing “not just the business of pleasure and leisure and joy and excitement and fun”, the minister said the partnership will also add an element of economic and intellectual freedom to the process, helping to support skills development as it strengthens cooperation in tourism management and resilience.

In addition to Africa, JAPEX is expected to place emphasis on emerging markets in Latin America, Southeast Asia -— particularly India —- and Eastern Europe.

The expansion forms part of a broader strategy to usher in what Bartlett has described as “Tourism 3.0”, the Government’s plan to increase tourism’s contribution to Jamaican workers, communities and other industries while strengthening the sector’s competitiveness.

As the country works to expand its tourism footprint, Bartlett said more than $4 billion has been allocated in the current fiscal year to maintain Brand Jamaica’s international visibility and competitiveness.

For decades, Jamaica has relied heavily on North America and Europe for visitors. While those markets remain critical, tourism officials are increasingly viewing diversification as necessary to strengthen the sector against economic shocks, changing consumer preferences, and disruptions to international travel.

The 36th staging of JAPEX, which is being positioned as a major platform for forging new tourism partnerships, will be held from September 14 to 18, 2026 at Moon Palace Jamaica in Ocho Rios, St Ann. It is being held under the theme ‘Jamaica Re-imagined’.

The event’s return to Ocho Rios after more than a decade follows the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa which severely affected tourism properties in western Jamaica, including Montego Bay where JAPEX has been hosted in recent years.

Bartlett, in describing the move not just as a logistical decision but a necessity, said it will provide an opportunity to showcase Ocho Rios’s resilience and tourism offerings. With about 80 per cent of Ocho Rios’s tourism accommodation inventory currently operational, he said the remaining properties are expected to come back on stream before the end of the first quarter of 2027.

Even as the sector continues its recovery, Bartlett said Jamaica must maintain its visibility in international markets while reinforcing its reputation as a safe, secure and seamless destination.

Organised by the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) in partnership with the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), JAPEX was established to connect Jamaican hotels, attractions and other tourism suppliers with international buyers, tour operators and travel agents.

JAPEX Planning Committee chair and former JHTA President Nicola Madden-Greig said the last staging facilitated approximately US$100 million in commercial contracts and business negotiations for Jamaica’s tourism industry.

“This year, close to 200 Jamaican suppliers will connect with wholesalers, tour operators, travel agents, and industry decision-makers from our key source markets. Each of those meetings has the potential to generate business but the impact goes well beyond the meeting room,” JHTA President O’Brian Heron said.

The event is expected to attract participants from about 22 countries across Latin America, Europe, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Nordic markets.

Heron said the mix will allow Jamaica to strengthen established markets while pursuing new opportunities.

“Our ambition should not simply be to attract more visitors. It should be to generate greater value from tourism — higher visitor spend, stronger linkages with Jamaican businesses, increased investment, and more meaningful opportunities for our people,” he stated.