Access Jamaica Newsroom

AccessJamaica.com is Jamaica’s premier distribution and repository channel for Jamaican products and service. The portal helps consumers find easily accessible information under one umbrella (www.AccessJamaica.com).

The portal’s chief solutions coach, Theo Chambers, launched the portal on Saturday, October 22, 2016, which is now accessible to the global marketplace. He said “AccessJamaica is a new source channel in the marketplace for Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Consumer (B2C) networking in Jamaica.”

The founder envisions a Jamaica that is computer literate and in harmony with the national vision to develop Jamaica as a place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business.

Montego Bay has in recent times become the epicenter of celebrity sightings in Jamaica, and that’s due in large measure to OCEAN Style.  The Caribbean luxury lifestyle brand having already produced three celebrity events in Jamaica this year  - Taye Diggs’ Book Signing Tour, Vivica Fox’s Birthday Celebration and High Vibes Roots & Reggae Festival featuring Rick Ross, Beenie Man and Ky-Mani Marley.  Now the tourism capital of Jamaica is gearing up to host the 9th annual OCEAN Style FashionShowcase Weekend and Celebrity Golf Tournament.

Global entertainment giant MTV will be in Jamaica as one of the many recognized entities when the weekend kicks off November 24-27, 2016.  Billed as a weekend of parties, fun, fashion and celebration, the annual event is well-known for pulling international names in fashion, having presented brands: Etro, Reem Accra, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Agent Provocateur, Victoria’s Secret and the Caribbean’s own Meiling, Anya Ayoung-Chee and Heather Jones, just to name a few. In terms of celebrity attendance, OCEAN Style has hosted over 50 celebrities including the likes of Anthony Anderson, Angela Simmonds, Vivica Fox, Lennox Lewis, Taye Diggs, Don Benjamin, Rockmond Dunbar, Nicole Murphy and Mekhi Phifer and in the process successfully established itself as the quintessential celebrity and socialite playground of the Caribbean.

Secrets Resorts & Spas will play host to the guests and a number of the events as the presenting partner for the second consecutive year. Emilio Huhn, General Manager said: "For a luxury resort like Secrets it's a very good fit. We are happy to be associated with world class events and that is what OCEAN Style delivers."

Efforts to foster investment in island’s timeshare vacations subsector, will be further boosted as Minister of Tourism Hon. Edmund Bartlett departs the island today (October 25, 2016), to attend the International Shared Ownership Investment Conference on ‘Timeshare’s Economic Impact on Destination Markets’ in Miami. 

“I am very excited to attend this important conference on timeshare vacations. I strongly believe that it is important for us to continuously diversify Jamaica’s tourism product and the introduction of timeshare vacations to our product mix is a key way for us to achieve this. It is a unique form of tourism which has the potential to create new economic opportunities for Jamaicans while fuelling investment and enhancing Jamaica’s international appeal,” shared Minister Bartlett.

The conference, which is scheduled to run from October 24-26, 2016, is a major event which provides a forum to educate potential entrants, developers and destination representatives who want to learn more about the opportunities and future trends in the vacation ownership industry.  While there, Minister Bartlett will participate in a high level panel discussion. He will outline details including the objectives of introducing the timeshare legislation act in Jamaica, the potential economic impact and the importance of investing in the island.

The Ministry of Tourism will be hosting the 2016 staging of the Tourism Outlook Seminar from December 6-8 at the Montego Bay Convention Centre, St. James. The event is being organized in association with the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

The Tourism Outlook Seminar will bring together an impressive cadre of local, regional and international tourism stakeholders to share ideas, examine best practices and discuss strategies for advancing Caribbean tourism.

The highly anticipated seminar will feature contributions from several international experts on areas such as managing communication in the face of issues such as pandemics, terrorism and natural disasters; establishing multi-destination tourism and travel facilitation to name a few. Minister Bartlett will address journalists and tourism partners at the Press Launch.

Ministry of Tourism Celebrates Tourism Awareness Week from September 25 – October 1, 2016

KINGSTON, Jamaica; September 15, 2016:  The Ministry of Tourism, its agencies and industry partners will seek to further raise awareness about the role Jamaica is playing in promoting responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism, during its annual celebration of Tourism Awareness Week (TAW). This is in-keeping with the Ministry’s drive to ensure that the benefits of tourism are felt by every Jamaican across the length and breadth of the island and to continuously improve the tourism product to meet the unique needs of our visitors.    

The week-long celebration will be observed from September 25 - October 1, 2016, under the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) theme for World Tourism Day, September 27th - ‘Tourism for All: Promoting Universal Accessibility’.  It promises to be an engaging week, with a series of activities highlighting the work the Ministry and its agencies are doing to foster universal accessibility within the tourism sector.