Paul E PennicookJamaica´s Tourism Director

CND: What does Jamaica stand for Spanish hotel chains and what of those companies have a major presence in your country?

PP: Jamaica is very important for these world-class groups and they help us open up new markets. The first of those chains that came to Jamaica was RIU –they already have the vacant lots and are ready to start building. Then came Iberostar, the Pinero Group, Barceló and Meliá.

CND: What about the airlift between Jamaica and Spain?

PP: As we speak, we only have nonstop flights through the Marsans charters, but we´re negotiating with Iberia and other Spanish carriers. Any Spaniard can fly to Jamaica from London, where there´re excellent connections. There´re other possibilities like, say, from Miami.

CND: How are your relations with the Marsans Group?

PP: They´re pretty good, but they take almost all Spanish tourists to the RIU Hotel, therefore they´re not so well known on the island among Jamaican hoteliers.

CND: Do groups investing in Jamaica´s tourism have some kind of financial support?

PP: Absolutely. The government supports them financially and in many other ways because we´re very interested in advancing the industry.

CND: What´s your opinion of FITUR?

PP: It´s very important for us to attend this fair in Spain and this is the second year in a row that we come here with a stand of our own.

CND: How many Spanish tourists visit Jamaica every year?

PP: Approximately 6,000 visitors, though we hope to increase that figure in the near future based on new investment plans.

CND: How many cruise passengers and tourists from around the world come to Jamaica every year?

PP: We welcome 1.1 million cruise passengers, plus 1.3 million visitors that stay on the island at least one night.

CND: What´s the approximate breakdown of your publicity and promotion budget?

PP: Depending on the number of visitors from each outbound destination, we´ll split it up in the following way: three quarters for America and a quarter for Europe. Within Europe, we´ll earmark 17 percent for England and somewhere between 7 and 8 percent for Germany, Spain, France, Netherlands and Italy combined.

CND: What mass media are you going to make promotional campaigns on?

PP: In all conventional news organizations, but focusing most of our efforts on online publications and dot-coms.

CND: How are you going to beef up security for tourists?

PP: We´re working on that round the clock. But in the zones of Ocho Rios and Montego Bay, crime is not as rampant as in Kingston, which is a big city. We´re also improving our roads and the rest of the services the travel industry benefits from.

CND: Are you going to teach Spanish to travel industry workers? There´re very few people who actually speak Spanish around here.

PP: They´re learning that language with might and main.

CND: What about Air Jamaica? Will the company close down?

PP: No, it won´t. On the contrary. The government is going at great lengths to bail out this air company, to improve its service and keep it on the air.

CND: Will the Jamaican government levy a tax on visitors?

PP: Yes, it will and it´s going to be soon. Ten dollars per traveler and $2 per cruise passenger.

CND: China put Jamaica on the list of authorized travel destinations recently, am I right?

PP: You´re right and that´s a tremendous advantage because it´ll help us grow even further with a promising outbound market that is turning heads in all Caribbean destinations.