"In terms of recovery, I think Jamaica is well on its way," says Clinton Reader, GM Moon Palace Jamaica and President of the JHTA (Jamaican Hotel & Tourist Association). "Starting November, from Canada, we're looking at 50 direct flights through the winter. That's a good signal the Canadian market is coming back and is going to come back very strong."
TravelPulse Canada sat down with Reader during The Travel Agent Next Door conference held at the Moon Palace in Ocho Rios last week, which was attended by nearly 250 members of the travel industry and is the largest Canadian conference of its kind.
In addition to Canadian market returning, the US and UK - two other key markets for the destination - are also showing a strong return. Reader says the US is bringing back 17 direct flights on the wide-body 277 jet which holds about 250 people.
"What is interesting is that the business class seats are already sold because people want more space because for the pandemic. These planes are coming in with 21 business class seats. Cruising is also coming back - Carnival has said they'll be sending 110 ships to Jamaica between now and April. So it will be very good for us."
All three ports in Jamaica will be open and operating again with the same strict restrictions found across the rest of the country; travellers must be fully vaccinated, and everybody at the port will be vaccinated as well.
"Travellers are expecting a very high vaccination rate and (employee) testing within the attractions for anybody they meet. And that's been happening because we have a department devoted to ensuring that, the TPDCo."
The Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo) is the central agency mandated by the Government of Jamaica to facilitate the maintenance, development, and enhancement of the tourism product. The company is designed to support government and quasi-government agencies in the development of the tourism industry, particularly by coordinating and facilitating prompt action between public and private sector interests.
"That company has been working to certify all the outlets in terms of, for example, the Moon Palace. We've been certified by them; they'll come in for two days, inspect all the protocols, and then they give us a certificate. And in addition, embedded in that certificate is a QR code with all the policies, all the protocols that you're supposed to be maintaining."
While vaccination rates may be low and positivity rate high in mainland, Jamaica was the first country to separate tourism from the rest of the population. It's an idea Reader says was mostly based on the. perception that all tourists would come in with the virus, give it to locals and employees who would take it to the community. As a result, the country designated a tourist area called "the corridor" in January, 2021.
"I was elected last year September as president of JHTA (Jamaica Hotel &Tourist Association) and one of the first things we did was to embrace the corridor and the protocols within. We set up the basic protocols; wash your hands, sanitize, physically distance, and that was before we got the vaccines. When they arrived, we started the Ambassador Program, which took knowledge (on stopping spread) and helped to teach communities how to behave the way we were in hotels."
We were getting less positivity amongst the employees to the point where when the public average was like in the 40%, we were less than 1% positive. And as the community rate came down, we did too. And right now we are as low as 0.3% in the corridor, which is literally nothing."
Jamaican government requires that hotels can operate at 70% capacity. That is apparent across the Moon Palace's public areas - the main lobby has 30% less seating for example. As do the restaurants and bars. The nightclubs have turned into more lounge areas with seating versus dance floors, allowing to socialize at a safe distance.
The Moon Palace also provided free vaccination clinics on site for employees and their families and friends in their communities.
"We are very proud of it. And I think it's something that we should use to propel us forward. Because right now looking at this winter, the last occupancy survey we did is suggesting that we'll be about 70% of the 2019 figures which was our best year in tourism. It shows that by the end of 2023 we would have fully recovered.
"I'm excited that we are at the end of the tunnel. We are not in the tunnel anymore looking at a light outside the tunnel. But we must always remember that COVID is here, it's going to be here for a while, we just have to manage it in a responsible way."
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