Jamaica is becoming more and more popular for Italians with Negril and Montego Bay being the biggest draws and pointed to one Negril resort being listed among the tour company’s 15 best hotel resorts in the world.
Jamaica’s Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett (3rd right); is joined by Laurent Parent (centre), Senior Executive for Alpitour World, Italy’s largest Tour operator; Delano Seiveright (left), Senior Advisor/Strategist; Elisa Eterno (2nd left), JTB Italy; Matteo Gambardella, Contracting Manager, Alpitour World; Mariangela Montessoro (2nd right), Contracting Manager, Alpitour World and newly appointed Director of Tourism, Donovan White at the Hotel Scala in Milan, Italy on Monday March 5.
Alpitour which owns the Italian airline, NEOS, is to increase the number of seats into Montego Bay, Jamaica from Italy using a new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft starting May of this year. Laurent Parent, a Senior Executive for Alpitour World, Italy’s largest tour operator, noted that the new aircraft will replace existing once weekly scheduled Boeing 767 charter service between Milan and Montego Bay. The airline will also continue its once weekly flight from the Italian city of Verona, Italy.
Bartlett noted that Italy is among the lead countries being targeted in Jamaica’s ongoing European tourism growth strategy which in 2017 recorded 325,804 European tourists approximately 31,000 more than in the year 2016. Jamaica welcomed near 14,000 Italians tourists last year, representing a 44.5 percent increase over 2015.
