Jamaican Tourism Minister welcomes TUI’s flight expansion and strategic investment

KINGSTON, JAMAICA – Minister of Tourism of Jamaica, Hon Edmund Bartlett has welcomed TUI Group‘s plan for significant flight expansion and bullish investment that will benefit the island. The announcement by the Group unveils an ambitious plan to significantly increase its flight operations out of Europe, particularly from Italy and Spain, with a focus on expanding routes to Caribbean destinations, with a strategic emphasis on the destination. The announcement followed a meeting at FITUR in Spain on January 22, led by Minister Bartlett, his Senior Tourism team and TUI Group Senior Executives, led by their CEO, Sebastian Ebel.

TUI Group, headquartered in Germany, is one of the world’s leading tourism entities and operates worldwide with over 20 million customers. The Group fully or partially owns several travel agencies, hotel chains, cruise lines and retail shops as well as five European airlines.

Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett (center) has a photo opportunity with Sebastian Ebel, Chief Executive Officer (2nd left) ahead of strategic discussions on expansion plans. Sharing in the moment are (left to right) Gregory Shervington, Regional Director, Jamaica Tourist Board, Delano Seiveright, Senior Communications Strategist, Ministry of Tourism Jamaica, Thomas Ellerbeck, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, TUI Care Foundation, Donovan White, Director of Tourism, Jamaica Tourist Board and Vincent Snauwaert, Head of Government Relations – Destination, TUI Group.

“An expansion of flights out of Europe and more investment in Jamaica from this longstanding partner augurs well for our tourism sector as we will be able to leverage this to increase arrivals and earnings for our economy. This announcement perfectly aligns with our KPIs of welcoming 5 million visitors and earnings by this year,” said Minister Bartlett.

The move stems from the group’s hotel expansion plans in the island with St. Thomas positioned as the ideal location to support this, while ensuring sustainable tourism practices. TUI Group also reconfirmed their strong partnership with Jamaica as one of its key destinations in the Caribbean.

“With the global tourism industry experiencing several disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the lack of planes and equipment, the time is right for this type of expansion as the world welcomes post-COVID travel. This also reconfirms the confidence our long-standing partner has in Jamaica. We are ready to welcome the demands that will flow from this increase,” added Minister Bartlett.

The article Jamaican Tourism Minister welcomes TUI’s flight expansion and strategic investment first appeared in TravelDailyNews International.