PAX On Location: 3 game changers that happened in Jamaica this week

Three big things happened in Jamaica this week, and by all accounts, they were game changers.

Last Sunday (Jan. 27), a sexy hotel opened, the S Hotel Jamaica, in a see-and-be-seen location overlooking famed Doctor’s Cave Beach on the Hip Strip in Montego Bay.

With open views of the Windex-blue Caribbean Sea, the 120-room South Beach-y boutique is a bright-white swank tank that packs a chic-sweet punch of bold turquoise, yellows and reds, all the while showcasing whimsical decor inspired by traditional Jamaican culture.

A model of a 1953 Singer Convertible sits parked out front – a replica of the very car iconic actress Katherine Hepburn, a.k.a Caribbean Kate, brought with her when she visited Jamaica in 1952, and was photographed in for Vanity Fair.

(Legend has it that all came down to Hepburn wanting a car that had air conditioning as vehicles in Jamaica, at that time, were tin tops without A/C).

More to the S than meets the eye

Still just a week old, the S Hotel Jamaica is already buzzing with lore, intrigue and Instagram check-ins. But there’s more to this new kid on the Montego Bay hotel block than meets the industry eye.

It’s the first European Plan hotel in Jamaica to open in 40 years, a change of course for a Caribbean destination that, traditionally, has hung tight to all-inclusive resorts.

“I was really passionate about what I call a ‘city hotel’ – the role a hotel can play in the life of a city, not so much into the resort side of things,” says owner Christopher Issa, a Jamaican entrepreneur who also owns the newly-created Crissa Hotels group.

Issa views The S as a catalyst for invigorating new life into Montego Bay’s Hip Strip, from the opening of new attractions, such as the Usain Bolt-branded Tracks and Records restaurant next door (which Issa is a franchise owner), to attracting luxury-seekers back to a strip once frequented by the likes of Jackie Onassis and Dustin Hoffman.  

Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, the Honourable Edmund Bartlett, applauded the new property:

“The opening of [the S Hotel Jamaica] was a game changer in terms of the traditional offerings we’ve had with all-inclusives,” Mr. Bartlett told PAX at the World Tourism Awards –  “the Oscars of tourism” – at Sandals Montego Bay last Monday night.

CHTA's Travel Marketplace: where change is born

Highlighting Jamaica's game changers has been on the Minister’s mind this week as he, among more than 1,000 industry delegates and nearly 40 international media, participated in the 37th annual Caribbean Travel Marketplace, the Caribbean’s largest travel marketing event.

Held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre from Jan. 29-31, the conference and trade show, hosted by the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), welcomes hoteliers, destination reps, wholesalers, tour operators, agencies and journalists for several days of networking and special announcements.

The opening of the S Hotel Jamaica may have been the talk of the town this week, but it wasn’t alone in the game changer hall of fame.

On Tuesday, one day before the official launch of Caribbean Travel Marketplace, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and Government of Jamaica hosted a global summit on jobs and inclusive growth, putting the focus on small and medium-sized tourism enterprises. The first of its kind.

Speaking to a ballroom full of journalists, delegates and politicians, Mr. Bartlett addressed a concern amongst Jamaicans over the economic disparity in the Caribbean – specifically how the majority of tourism dollars go to global investors and less to local economies.  

It’s a telling case when you look at the Caribbean’s dependency on tourism: one in five people in the Caribbean work in tourism; in Jamaica specially, there’s roughly 120,000 tourism workers, representing one tenth of workers in the country, Mr. Bartlett explained.

Countries that are dependent on tourism, like Jamaica, demonstrate certain features that “are painful to consider,” Mr. Bartlett said, citing a high debt to GDP ratio, unemployment, crime and low retention capacity for the earnings of tourism.  

“We need to look at how we can make more people earn more from tourism," Mr. Bartlett said, generating a loud applause from the audience.

Transforming the tourist experience

Radically changing the way tourism dollars are distributed in Jamaica, and beyond, could possibly transform the way tourists experience the Caribbean – a movement worth watching as local politicians build new platforms and strategies.

But the major announcements didn’t stop there. Last Wednesday, Mr. Bartlett unveiled a third major initiative –  a Global Tourism Resilience and Crisis Management Centre.

Located at the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica, the centre was created to solve global tourism challenges, such the destruction caused by hurricanes, tsunamis, cyber-crimes and terrorism.

“It’s a world game-changing institute,” Mr. Bartlett told PAX. “Nowhere in the world is there a single place where you can have information and support for countries that have been victims of disruptions.”

The centre is designed to track disruptions and offer guidance, on a global scale, when countries are impacted so issues can be better managed when they occur, and so regions can continue to thrive.

“It’s important we have a centre like this in the Caribbean,” Mr. Bartlett said, noting the “billions” of U.S. dollars in damage Jamaica endured as a result of hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017.  

It’s a powerful thing when a country raises the bar and Jamaica, this week, just upped its game.

Stay tuned for more of PAX's coverage from Caribbean Travel Marketplace in Jamaica. 

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