Jamaica Tourist Board announces new developments in sector

TORONTO:

Jamaica Tourist Board representatives last week hailed the special relationship which it shares with its Canada market, which has seen steady growth in the last year with significant developments planned for the sector.

Addressing a press briefing and media reception attended by Donovan White, director of tourism, other executives of the JTB, travel industry key stakeholders and media, Angella Bennett, regional director, Jamaica Tourist Board Canada, underscored that the relationship goes far beyond business and is built on shared values, cultural appreciation and genuine friendship.

She said Canada consistently ranks as one of Jamaica’s top three source markets. “Canadian visitors don’t just come to Jamaica; they connect with our people. They return year after year; they bring their families to our shores and they become genuine ambassadors for our destination.”

Providing an update on the tourism market in Canada, White, who was in Toronto for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), said their August numbers from Canada were up eight per cent.

There were 30, 200 visitors from the Canadian market versus 27,000 last year despite the strike action by Air Canada flight attendants in August. “I can safely say that it absolutely did not affect the Jamaican performance and for that we’re thankful.”

The director of tourism said during the month they maintained an over 90 per cent load factor on all flights from Canada into Jamaica.

“Our winter capacity for 2026 will be up 22 per cent over last winter. There will be a total of about 365,000 seats flown to Jamaica for the winter compared to about 293,000 last winter. We’re really happy with the show of support by our partners: Air Canada, WestJet, Sunwing, Air Transat, Caribbean Airlines, and newest among our airline partners that will fly from a gateway in Canada to Jamaica, Flair.”

On the matter of new gateway openings in Canada, White said Quebec City will launch service to Jamaica for the first time on December 6 and the service will run through to April 12, 2026, with Sunwing and WestJet working together.

“That is really something that we’re extremely happy with; it’s been one of those hard worked negotiation that took myself and Angella the better part of two-and-a-half years to make it happen. But we were insistent, resilient and indeed persistent in ensuring that we make this happen for Quebec City.”

White said Edmonton will be returning to Jamaica with WestJet weekly, starting November 2 to April 12. Western Canada will be a strategic focus for the JTB in the next five years. Air Canada will open up Ottawa and Halifax, starting in December.

“The big picture, this will be the headline that we put on a billboard somewhere in the city very soon that out of Toronto to Jamaica there’s ten flights per week. There’s absolutely no reason not to sell Jamaica and fill those planes to Jamaica.”

He said Flair is launching daily year-round service, Toronto to Montego Bay, starting December 14 with fares starting as low as $189.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

Sharing news about accommodation developments in Jamaica, the director of tourism said UNICO will open its first hotel in the English-speaking Caribbean in Montego Bay in March 2026 - a 435-room, all-inclusive luxury property. He noted also that UNICO will soon break ground for the development of their 1100-room Hard Rock hotel. White reminded the gathering that the prime minister and the minister of tourism last month also broke ground for a structure which will be the tallest building in the Caribbean – 34 storeys, 1100 rooms, all-inclusive and which is targeted for opening in winter 2027.

There are a number of other developments including Bahia Principe’s renovation to move it to 750 rooms in 2026, and plans to break ground for an additional hotel on the same property.

The Royalton CHIC in Runaway Bay is currently under renovation and expansion, to be opened in time for winter 2026. There was a recent acquisition of Royal Decameron Runaway Bay property by the Motto family, Motto Resorts. It is under minor renovations and will be launched in the coming weeks in time for winter.

Secrets will be building another hotel in St. Ann and Grand Palladium has broken ground for a 900-room expansion to its property. Princess Hotel, which opened last December, will open its, and Jamaica’s first casino in December of this year.

White said Footeprints boutique hotel has done a complete renovation of that product and it is fantastic.

“We took a very strategic decision a little bit over a year ago to re-engage the luxury segment for the destination and in doing so we re-partnered with Virtuoso,” he said regarding resetting the island’s luxury cluster of hotels, attractions, service providers and more.

White said the JTB has been without a PR agency in Canada for some time and it was deliberate because they wanted to ensure that their next public relations agency is the right choice.

“We believe we have run an exhaustive process of selection and I’m happy to announce that we have selected Weber Shandwick,” he said.