Susan Gordon, Business Reporter

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett. - File

To support the growth target set for tourism to attain an annual visitor count of five million to the island by year 2012, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says he is strengthening Jamaica's relation with key airlines and attracting new ones.

But the minister, who is in the processing of reviving the state booking agency, Jamaica Vacations or JAMVAC, which closed down in 2006, insisted the flight arrangements would not dampen the interest of prospective investors in national carrier Air Jamaica, now up for divestment.

"No. It will say to prospective buyers destination Jamaica is hot, therefore, you can expand as it opens up new market," Bartlett told Sunday Business following his presentation at the University of Technology/University of Delaware 2008 International Conference on Business Hospitality and Tourism Management on Thursday in Ocho Rios.

The minister said only 32 per cent of all visitors to the island fly Air Jamaica.

Plans for airline industry

Bartlett outlined several plans for the airline industry and tourism, stating that the number of airline seats for this year's winter season would increase by more than 34,000 seats, compared with the 709,979 in last year's winter season.

The United States has been Jamaica's largest market, but that business is falling and Bartlett has turned his attention to Asia as the next frontier.

Discussions with Aero Mexico which flies directly to Shanghai, China, would be completed, he said, by December.

Chicago's new service

Also, a new service offer from Chicago would happen in January 31, 2009, and a service from Dallas and Miami would take place in December and November 2008, respectively.

This is along with an increase in airlift from Delta Airlines on its Atlanta-Montego Bay route come December.

Bartlett said he expected to reach the emerging markets of India and China from connections out of Chicago.

"We are talking with markets in the South," he said, adding that the tourism ministry's plan was to build up business in those markets to levels comparable with the North, and in so doing, ending Jamaica's reliance on business from one part of the world or on a single market.

Jamaica's tourism market is currently skewed towards the United States, particularly the northeastern and southern states where close to three-quarters of American visitors to the island originate.

In 2007, the US accounted for 66 per cent or Jamaica's visitors, reflecting a 4.9 per cent market decline that year.

In 2007, Jamaica had more than 1.13 million visitors from the US, down from more than 1.19 million in 2006.

This year, another decline is projected, but Bartlett said his reading is that there would be a one per cent dip.

Jamaica's other markets include Europe, with a 16 per cent share; Canada with 7.9 per cent; the Caribbean, 3.6 per cent; and Latin America, 0.6 per cent.

In Asia, Japan represents a 0.3 per cent share. Other places are negligible.

susan.gordon@gleanerjm.com