You never forget your first love.
In terms of travel, for me it was Jamaica. It was December, 1988, my first press trip and my first-ever trip outside of Canada and the U.S. I fell in love at first sight, sound, smell and taste.
On my first evening, I sat on my hotel room balcony in Ocho Rios, drinking Appleton rum, smelling wood smoke, spice and ganja, and feeling the bass of a thousand boom boxes playing reggae music in the hills surrounding the city. My hotel room radio (it was 1988) played an endless series of reggaefied versions of North American hits and Christmas carols. I was enthralled.
The visit was what we would now call a “destination assurance” trip, less than two months after the rude arrival of Hurricane Gilbert, the second-most intense tropical cyclone on record in the Atlantic basin. The storm made landfall near Kingston as a Category 4, killing 45 and devastating many parts of the island
Despite the terrible damage, the people I met were resilient, welcoming, intelligent and funny. Over the next 35 years I have returned a couple of dozen times, exploring places like Kingston, Negril, Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, Mandeville and Brown’s Town.
A balcony at Secrets Wild Orchid in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Montego Bay is ready to welcome tourists despite a brush with Hurricane Beryl. (Photo Credit: Bruce Parkinson)
Now I’m back again, on a Jamaica Tourist Board trip that is part destination assurance -- following the destination’s recent brush with Hurricane Beryl -- part humanitarian visit, and part resort familiarization trip. It’s great to be back. As the JTB says “Once you go, you know.”
We’re accompanied on the visit by Angella Bennett, the JTB’s Regional Director Canada, and Judy Nash, Office Manager for the board in Canada.
Kaylia Harrison, Director of Sales for Secrets Wild Orchid, Secrets St. James and Breathless Montego Bay with Angella Bennett, Regional Director Canada for the Jamaica Tourist Board. (Photo Credit: Bruce Parkinson)
Our group is spending three nights at Secrets Wild Orchid, part of a resort complex on a glorious peninsula that also features Secrets St. James and Breathless Montego Bay. It’s my first visit, and the property and rooms are spacious and beautiful. After that, we’ll move to the Hyatt Ziva/Zilara Rose Hall Resorts for two more nights.
In between, we’ll check out properties including Sea Garden, Hideaway at Royalton Blue Waters, the brand-new Riu Palace Aquarelle, Jewel Grande Montego Bay and Hilton Rose Hall Resort & Spa.
That’s not all. The 11 travel advisors on the trip are Jamaica lovers who have participated in raising funds for the Helping Hands Jamaica Foundation, which is currently building its 27th school in rural areas of the island. Since 2006, the group has assisted the education needs of more than 15,000 Jamaican students and engaged hundreds of individuals to visit the country through voluntourism school builds.
Tomorrow our group will head to the new school and spend some hours painting and meeting some of the children who will study there. Fam trip members arrived with large suitcases full of school supplies to help outfit the centre of learning. The next day, we’ll go back for the ribbon-cutting ceremony, conducted by The Honourable Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism and one of the international travel industry’s thought leaders.
Bartlett is the founder of the Global Tourism Resilience & Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC), an international think-tank headquartered in Jamaica, with offices in Canada, Africa, and the Middle East. GTRCMC helps tourism stakeholders worldwide prepare for, manage and recover from a crisis.
The stunning view from the Altitude rooftop bar at Breathless Montego Bay. (Photo Credit: Bruce Parkinson)
The recent visit by Hurricane Beryl battered the island with heavy winds and rain, causing significant damage to the south coast of the island, and took the lives of two people in Jamaica. Impacted areas are still working to restore power, clean water and sanitation. Bennett tells TravelPulse Canada that the GTRCMC proved its mettle during the storm, releasing a constant flow of information that helped her keep Canadian tour operators up to date with the dynamic situation.
Bennett says the 24-hour closure of Jamaica’s major airports during the storm, along with media reports, caused a lull in bookings for about a week, but once people realized that key tourist areas are largely unscathed, things have improved. She says the focus is now on filling hotels for August, September and October, while tour operators tell her that advance bookings for winter are stronger than ever.
The view from a room at Secrets Wild Orchid in Montego Bay, Jamaica. (Photo Credit: Bruce Parkinson)
“I am so passionate to be here for this fam trip,” said Bennett. “The agents in this group have such strong Jamaica love and they have worked so hard to fund-raise for the school. The footprints we make are important, and it’s wonderful to be able to say ‘I did something to elevate people’s lives.’”
Stay tuned to TravelPulse Canada and our Facebook page for more coverage over the coming days.
Topics From This Article to Explore
