THE Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) yesterday said that its Winter advertising campaign will open in the United States next Monday on 10 major television networks covering eight cities.

“This campaign seeks to build on the goodwill for and awareness of the destination achieved during advertising in the weeks following September 11 and, with other important elements of our winter programme, is aimed at accelerating the easing in decline of arrivals which we have seen between November and December 2001,” a release from the JTB quotes director of tourism Fay Pickersgill.

Following the September 11 bombings in the USA, leisure and business travel nose-dived, resulting in Jamaica experiencing a 20 per cent decline in stopover tourist arrivals in September and a 20.7 per cent decline in October.

However, in November, the JTB said, the decline decreased to 14.9 per cent compared to the same period in 2000 when 97,235 stopover tourists visited the island. Preliminary figures for December 2001 show a decline of 11.7 per cent compared to the same month the previous year which recorded 116,915 stopover arrivals.

The ads, which will run until February 16 in Jamaica’s key gateway markets of New York, Boston, Baltimore, Washington D C, Philadelphia, Houston, Atlanta and Chicago, will appear on CNN, FOX News, BET, TNT, E! TBS, USA, VH-1, Food Network and Lifetime.

Among the programmes targeted are the Michael Jackson 30th Anniversary Encore, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, 20/20, David Letterman, Friends, the Stellar Gospel Awards, Saturday Night Live, the American Music Awards, Wheel of Fortune, Entertainment Tonight, Hollywood Squares, Oprah, Jeopardy, The West Wing, X Files and Wheel of Fortune.

Said the JTB: “A significant amount of programming will also specifically target the African American audience, most with multiple frequency.”

In addition, popular morning shows, weather updates, world and local news are also slated for Jamaican advertising spots over the next few weeks, and sports programmes, such as the AFC Championships in Chicago, Ravens football in Baltimore and golf in Baltimore are included in this advertising campaign.

The JTB also said it has planned print advertising in the USA between January and March and has apparently been guaranteed features in Caribbean Travel and Life, Conde Naste Traveler, which will run an advertorial on family travel to Jamaica, Travel and Leisure, Saveur, Bride’s, New York Magazine, Garden Design, Healthquest, Black Enterprise and Savoy.

In the United Kingdom, the JTB said it has television advertising spots scheduled from January 12 to the end of February in London and the south of England, resuming mid-March to mid-April in the Midlands and North of England to support the introduction of Air Jamaica flights out of Manchester, as well as flights to the island by Airtours.

The JTB is also now running a two-month poster promotion for the island on 300 platforms in the London underground.

Print advertising in the UK, the JTB said, began with the start of the winter season on December 15 and will continue to the beginning of April, while February and March will see substantial newspaper and magazine advertising for Jamaica in Italy and Germany.