Jamaica Tourist Board's John D. Lynch, Director of Tourism, & Philip Rose,
Regional Director of Canada
ACV's Louise Le Beau & Diana Rodriguez
Thomas Cook's Pat Lista &
Wayne Noseworthy
Sunwing's Domenica Aresta & Jennifer Perry, Leah Irvine from WestJet, & Sunwing's
Susan Oland
Nobody hopes for snow storms, below 0 temperatures, scraping frost off cars and shovelling driveways like we do in the travel biz, right? After all, a good winter in travel means a bad winter for everybody else.
The Jamaica Tourist Board is optimistic that the upcoming season will be much different from last year’s mild case of the blahs. John D. Lynch, the Jamaica Tourist Board’s Director of Tourism, and Philip Rose, the Regional Director of Canada, hosted a luncheon at YTO’s Delta Chelsea Hotel last week in anticipation of cold times to come and to thank their travel partners for their business and continued support.
According to Rose, despite last year’s weak winter, Jamaica experienced a 7.7% increase in international visitors in the 1st half of 2012 alone. The destination is still on a selling streak.
“Jamaica is hot, it’s in demand,” said Louise Le Beau, V.P. Product & Revenue Management for Air Canada Vacations. “There has been excellent momentum since the summer, as people do not wait to book Jamaica last minute.”
According to Sylvie Legaré, Senior Director Product for Transat Tours Canada, their Jamaica product is also doing well. The numbers have improved and the destination is doing even better than this time last year.
“We’re working to make it a good winter season,” said Lynch, as he told guests about the tourist board’s new TV commercial that will debut next week. The segment is aimed at Canadians shopping for their Christmas holidays. The commercial will air again after the new year, in time for spring break planning.
Lynch also took the opportunity to reassure guests that Jamaica is still open for business after the recent events of Hurricane Sandy. “Luckily, there was no structural damage in the main resort areas. And the areas of the island that were affected are now rebuilding,” he said.
Whether or not we actually get a bad winter this time around, Jamaica seems to be doing just fine without it. But fingers crossed anyway for the snow, scraping and shovelling, since in this case, bad equals good.
