Jamaica Will Host Next Caribbean Travel Marketplace

It’s official! The 42 Caribbean Travel Marketplace will be held in Jamaica. Nicola Madden-Greig, president of the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association, made the announcement yesterday at Caribbean Travel Marketplace currently underway in Barbados.

“It’s been five years since we were last in Jamaica [for Caribbean Travel Marketplace],” noted Madden-Greig. “It will be a spring show. We will announce the dates soon but it will be a very similar but expanded format.”

Jamaica’s minister of tourism Edmund Bartlett noted that the event will be a “Marketplace with a difference.”  

Bartlett said the next Caribbean Travel Forum, which takes place ahead of the event, will be “focusing heavily on thought leadership, sustainability and resilience. We will bring mega players from around the world to participate.”

Meanwhile, Madden-Greig indicated that the association is hoping to announce a new destination as the host for Marketplace in 2025. She also highlighted the significance of this year’s Marketplace being held in Barbados, which is the first time the destination hosted the event.

“The demand was so great, especially from the Eastern Caribbean, which normally have a challenge attending Marketplace so it’s been really fantastic in terms of the opportunity for a lot of smaller independent hotels,” she said.

Notably, Jamaica was awarded the CHTA’s Destination Resilience Award for its recovery efforts during the pandemic and tourism resilience-building initiatives during the forum.

“It is a pleasure to recognize my home country with this destination resilience award as it validates the countless hours and effort that went into the recovery through our public and private sector partners to ensure the survival of tourism,” said Madden-Greig.

In accepting the award, Bartlett said, “This award is for my entire tourism team and all our private and public sector partners who immediately saw the need to keep the lifeblood of the country open. From the minds and hard work of the team, Jamaica was first out of the blocks on the road to recovery.”

Bartlett was also recognized for his contribution to the regional tourism industry and received the CHTA’s prestigious President’s Award for Caribbean Excellence in Tourism.

“The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association is acutely aware that resilience strengthens Caribbean tourism, and it is a message that has reached all corners of the region and the world largely because of the efforts of one man, the Honourable Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s dynamic Minister of Tourism. This is one of the many reasons why we honour him today,” Madden-Greig said.