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Bartlett welcomes new German, Panamanian flights

Published:Thursday | July 19, 2018 | 12:00 AM
Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett meets this German family at gate 19 at the Sangster International Airport after they disembarked Eurowings' inaugural flight between Munich and Montego Bay yesterday. Bartlett and other officials formally welcomed new non-stop flights by the German airline as well as Panama’s Copa Airlines. Eurowings started its inaugural weekly scheduled flights between the major German city of Munich and Montego Bay yesterday, while, Copa Airlines increased to daily, flights between Panama City and Montego Bay. The new flights are as a result of very coordinated team efforts in Europe, Latin America and elsewhere to further diversify where Jamaica gets its tourists from and achieve growth targets. Several tourism officials, led by Bartlett, in recent times, engaged in a series of meetings with Airlines Executives and other travel industry leaders across the globe to draw more tourism business to Jamaica.

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett and other officials on Wednesday afternoon formally welcomed new non-stop flights by German airline Eurowings and Panama's Copa Airlines at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay.

Eurowings made its inaugural weekly scheduled flight between the major German city of Munich and Montego Bay yesterday, while, Copa Airlines increased to daily, flights between Panama City and Montego Bay.

"In line with our aggressive growth strategies in the European and Latin American markets, these new services will aid greatly in boosting tourist-arrival numbers," Bartlett pointed out.

"We are looking at bringing in 50,000 Germans to Jamaica's shores within three years, after recording a 44 per cent growth in German stopover arrivals in 2017 over the previous year with arrivals surging from 20,768 to 29,858 Germans," he added.

The tourism minister said that Jamaica was working to double the quantity of tourists from Latin America to approximately 60,000 by 2021. He indicated that the increased services by Copa brings to 11 the number of flights weekly by the airline between Panama City, one of Latin America's largest hubs, and Jamaica.

"This feeds well into our Chilean, Argentinean, Brazilian, and other major markets on that side," Bartlett said.

Director of the Jamaica Tourist Board Donovan White reiterated the importance of this new level of air connectivity, noting that "seamless air connectivity is critical in the JTB's overall marketing strategy to get more visitors to our shores. There are even more developments coming on stream soon."

The Ministry of Tourism said that the new flights were as a result of coordinated team efforts in Europe, Latin America, and elsewhere to further diversify where Jamaica gets its tourists from and to achieve growth targets. According to the ministry, several tourism officials, led by Bartlett, in recent times, engaged in a series of meetings with representatives of airlines and other travel industry leaders across the globe to draw more tourism business to Jamaica.