Horace Peterkin (right), president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association, has the attention of Judy McClusky, managing director of McClusky International, the British public relations and marketing firm hired by the Jamaica Tourist Board to promote Jamaica in the United Kingdom, and Josef Forstmayr, managing director of Round Hill Hotel in Hanover. Occasion was the 17th annual Jamaica Product Exchange show held at the Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort in Ocho Rios, St. Ann, yesterday. Approximately 430 delegates are attending this year's event. - Noel Thompson/Freelance Photographer

Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

LOCAL TOURISM interests, eager to woo American tourists back to Jamaica after an indifferent winter season, have launched a wide-scale media campaign in the United States (U.S.).

Director of Tourism Basil Smith said recently that television ads have already been running in the U.S., with slots earmarked for leading publications. Billboards, he added, are also part of the major Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) drive.

Smith told The Gleaner that the new thrust followed a "candid meeting" of tourism officials in Negril last Friday. He said with a 12 per cent (75,000 to 80,000) drop in arrivals from the U.S. during the winter season which ended April 15, it was agreed that reviving interest in Jamaica's biggest market was priority.

"Naturally, the main concern is the decline in visitors from the U.S., and also the drastic fall-off in spring break visitors," Smith said.

Focus on east, west coasts

The JTB head did not disclose the cost of the campaign, but said South Florida, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. were some of the locations where promotions will be strongest.

Following a record year 2006 when the JTB reported three million tourist arrivals, officials predicted a strong winter season which began December 15. But, that was derailed by a new U.S. State Department policy requiring American citizens to have passport to enter the Caribbean by plane.

Smith estimates that at the time the policy took effect on January 23, 70 per cent of Americans did not have a passport.