Jamaica sets the pace as the ‘heartbeat of the world’
“Jamaica, Heartbeat of the World” is the tagline for the Caribbean destination’s new marketing campaign
ANN RUPPENSTEIN
Jamaica’s new destination brand positioning shows that you can be small, but still leave a mighty mark.
Recognizing the outsized impact the Caribbean destination has made on an international scale, “Jamaica, Heartbeat of the World,” takes a look at how its rich and vibrant culture, music, cuisine, sports, adventure, nature, and wellness have global reach.
“We are excited to launch ‘Heartbeat of the World,’ which reinforces our position as a global leader among travel destinations and establishes Jamaica as the single destination every traveller must experience,” said Donovan White, Jamaica’s Director of Tourism, at the recent Caribbean Travel Marketplace in Nassau. “On the map, Jamaica may seem like a small dot in the Caribbean Sea, but her influence on the world culture is the size of a continent. We are a cultural giant, and we continue to have an indelible impact on the world’s food, music, sport, and literature, while offering larger-than-life bucket list experiences with extraordinary, talented people.”
White also announced that preliminary arrival figures for 2019 topped 4.3 million visitors, made up of 2.7 million stopover visitors for an average stay of 8.1 days, and 1.6 million cruise arrivals.
“During that period, the destination earnings from arrivals grew by 10.2% to US$3.64 billion, while making a positive net contribution to GDP for the past three consecutive quarters,” he said. “This year is also poised to be a very strong year for Jamaica… the global demand for travel to Jamaica has grown some 76% over the last three years moving from 426 million searches in 2016 to 832 million searches in 2019. By demand, what we mean is, when an intended traveller searches for a destination with a start and end date of travel, it’s an indication, a purpose search, and we view that as a demand.”
What’s even more impressive, he says, is those searches represent 1.5% of all global travel searches.
“That for us is a massive indication that there is positive outlook and demand for Jamaica,” he said.
In terms of airlift, the island destination has secured 170,000 new air seats, including 68,300 seats from the US and 14,200 from Canada.
“As airlines respond to the rapid demand of consumers wanting to travel to Jamaica for our larger, than, life experiences that we offer, so are the internationally known, world-class hotel partners,” he said.
Reservations are now open for Eclipse at Half Moon; a new luxury resort addition at the iconic resort, set to open on March 1. The property features 57 spacious accommodations, two restaurants, three bars, a market café, Fern Tree – a Salamander Spa complete with two overwater bungalows for massages and yoga sessions, an infinity-edge pool, and a private beachfront with a natural swimming cove.
New to the room inventory is the Ocean Coral Spring Resort, a new beachfront all-inclusive operated by H10 Hotels, which opened in December. When fully completed in May, the resort near Montego Bay will feature 513 rooms, 10 restaurants, four bars, two pools and a water park.
Three new mega hotels are also breaking ground: Karisma’s development in St. Ann with the first 900 of 4,000 rooms, the 1,900-room and casino development by Hard Rock, and a Princess Hotels project with 2,000 rooms.
Jamaica will also take the spotlight as the new James Bond movie, No Time to Die, which was filmed in Jamaica, James Bond’s birthplace, is set to be released April 8.
“We know that the destination is second to none. It’s evident from these updates that our small island has captivated the interest and attention of the travel trade,” he said. “We know that for our brand it’s not just about advertising or a logo or a tagline, our brand is the promise we make and deliver to our visitors every single day. It’s our essence, it defines our brand positioning and our beliefs, it’s, therefore, about Jamaica’s larger-than-life people, culture, and experiences that have a powerful and lasting impact on the world and all who visit our island.”
Eclipse at Half Moon.