Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett (center) presented the German AIDA Cruises President Felix Eichhorn with a copy of the Usain Bolt Legend book at the Jamaica stand of the ITB global tourism trade fair in Berlin in March 2018. He is flanked by (from right) JTB Continental Europe chief Gregory Shervington; Michaela Gruun, Senior Marketing Manager DACH; Dennis Schrahe, Vice President, AIDA Cruises; Senior Consultant / Strategist, Delano Seiveright; and JTB leader Donovan White.

Jamaica today receives the first weekly flight from one of the richest countries in the world, Switzerland.

The flights are operated by Edelweiss Air, a Swiss holiday airline owned by Swiss International Airlines and the Lufthansa Group based in the country’s largest city, Zurich.

Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett expressed his delight at this monumental moment. “This flight is going to be really monumental for us. We started these discussions in 2018 at a meeting with stakeholders at ITB Berlin. So it is really amazing to see how this finally comes to fruition. “

This week and the next are of great importance for Jamaica’s tourism with the return of flights from Germany and Canada, a very important source market for the country.

With flights from Germany, Canada and Swiss Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says the island’s tourism industry is steadily recovering from the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Minister of Tourism attributes the momentum to a series of strategic meetings his team held with key stakeholders around the world to increase the rate of recovery forecasts made for the industry’s return to normal.

He also attributes part of the success to the development of robust health and safety protocols for the sector, including the establishment of the resilient COVID-19 corridors for tourism, which have high vaccination rates and 0.6 percent infection rates in key source markets.

Yesterday, Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay welcomed Air Canada’s signature Dreamliner aircraft with 296 passengers, in addition to Condor Airlines’ first flight since the global travel interruption.

With the return of Condor Airline, flights from Frankfurt to Montego Bay will resume twice a week. This connects Jamaica with one of the world’s leading financial hubs and one of the most important airports in Europe.

Condor’s 767 jets have a capacity for 252 passengers per flight, which means 500 visitors per week from Germany and the rest of Europe.

“When we first made our forecasts, we expected a U-shaped recovery. However, with the surge in arrivals and a number of flights, we’re now looking for a V-shaped recreational trail, ”said Bartlett.

The Ministry of Tourism is forecasting 1.61 million visitors this year from an earlier estimate of 1.15 million, an improvement of 460,000 more visitors.

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