NEW YORK – Jamaica was in celebration mode during the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s (CTO) annual Caribbean Week in New York City, announcing that the destination has hit yet another record number of stopover arrivals from January to May 2018, surpassing the one million mark at roughly 1,025,997.
Continuing the celebration, the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) participated in a number of special events targeting the media, Diaspora community and local New Yorkers to continue the celebration all week long.
Jamaican Celebrity Chef Wenford Patrick Simpson kicked off the week with a culinary demonstration at Bloomingdale’s flagship store in midtown Manhattan. Chef Wenford prepared Jamaica’s National Dish, Ackee and Saltfish, served on delicious fried bammy. Wenford’s fans came to watch their beloved chef work his magic, while shoppers at the department store were lured by the delicious smells of traditional Jamaican cuisine.
At the CTO’s Caribbean Media Awards Dinner, held on June 7th at the Wyndham New Yorker Hotel, the JTB honored travel writer Dave Rodney and Gail Moaney, APR, founding managing partner of Finn Partners, with awards of excellence for their stellar efforts in marketing the Caribbean as a premier travel destination.
Moaney was presented with the Marcella Martinez award for her contribution as an outstanding public relations practitioner, while Rodney received the Marcia Vickery-Wallace award for excellence in travel journalism.
Earlier in the week, Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, the Hon. Edmund Bartlett was a guest speaker at the annual City Nation Place Americas Conference.
During the panel discussion, “Place Branding in a Crisis: Lessons on Rebuilding After Hurricane Irma,” Minister Bartlett shared his views on how destinations can build their resiliency to mitigate global threats such as climate change, cyber terrorism, epidemics and pandemics.
Bartlett emphasized that the key to staying competitive in the new global tourism market is to enhance linkages between tourism and the local economy thereby ensuring destinations retain more of the direct and indirect financial benefits.
To culminate the week, the Jamaica Tourist Board was a sponsor of Rum & Rhythm Benefit & Auction, the ultimate Caribbean epicurean experience that brings together consumers and the Caribbean destination representatives that participated in the week’s events.
