CHTA receives a warm Puerto Rican welcome at Caribbean Travel Marketplace Photo Credit CHTA

TOURISM MATTERS: HOT NEWS FROM CARIBBEAN TRAVEL MARKETPLACE

Talking Tourism at CHTA’s Caribbean Travel Marketplace in San Juan

San Juan, Puerto Rico: Oct. 5: In San Juan, Caribbean Travel Marketplace is in full swing at the Puerto Rico Convention Center. With travel and tourism center stage, tourism ministers, directors, international media and the private sector are gathered at the largest travel conference of the year. More than 700 delegates are at the conference representing 25 buyer countries including new buyers from Mexico, Poland, India and Latvia. Suppliers have registered from Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, The Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St Eustatius, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Maarten, St Martin, Turks and Caicos Islands, the United States, and the United States Virgin Islands. https://caribbeanhotelandtourism.com/

Caribe Hilton is a participating hotel during Caribbean Travel Marketplace Photo Credit Melanie Reffes

About Puerto Rico

Reflecting an upbeat tone, Brad Dean, CEO, Discover Puerto Rico, noted , “the hurricane was a reset, not a setback, ” referring to the passing of Hurricane Fiona, ” Puerto Rico has extensive experience in adversity and coming back even stronger given thorough preparedness measures in place. We are poised to continue sharing the beauty of Puerto Rico because tourism is part of the Island’s heartbeat.” Hosting the 40th edition of Caribbean Travel Marketplace, Discover Puerto Rico’s CEO Brad Dean added, “We feel especially honored to welcome CHTA here now and demonstrate the Boricua spirit of this community of this Island in action. As we emerged from the pandemic, we saw consumers yearn for deeper connections and deeper meaning. A chance to connect with local culture, local businesses, local people.”

Brad Dean is CEO of Discover Puerto Rixo Photo Credit Discover Puerto Rico

In addition to the enormously successful ‘ Live Boricua’ campaign that was launched in the spring, new markets for potential tourism spell big business for the island. “We’re excited about our new niche markets that include craft beer culture, culinary tours and the education and adventure market we’re calling ‘ed-venture’ travel,” added CEO Brad Dean, Discover Puerto Rico, “now, it’s an even more important time to support local as tourism is a major economic driver for the destination as a whole, and as we look to the brightest days ahead, in Puerto Rico’s bright future.”www.discoverpuertorico.com

Discover Puerto Rico’s artfully designed booth at Marketplace Photo Credit Melanie Reffes

About Jamaica

Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett announced Jamaica earned an impressive USD $5.7 billion since reopening its borders in June 2020. The data also shows that the island welcomed over 5 million visitors over the same period. The announcement follows the destination’s strong tourism recovery efforts that resulted in its best summer ever according to arrivals figures.

Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism Hon. Edmund Bartlett Photo Credit CHTA

For the summer period, the island recorded over 224,000 stopover arrivals in June while 2019 June figures show 222,000 arrivals. “These phenomenal earnings and arrivals figures are truly a testament to the hard work of my Ministry, its public bodies and our many stakeholders and partners, ” said Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett, “through our thought leadership, Jamaica was able to reopen its borders at the height of the pandemic and remain open to allow visitors to travel to the island safely and seamlessly. This strong recovery is happening even amidst the disruptions that the pandemic is causing in the airline industry with flight cancellations and supply chain disruptions.” For more information about Jamaica, visit www.visitjamaica.com.