Jamaica Embraces Digital Media To Promote Tourism

The Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) has positioned itself as a tourism innovator and in keeping with this image has made great strides in using the digital media to its advantage. Indeed, the island became the first ever country to promote itself as a destination using 3D technology. The 3D film promoting tourism to the island was unveiled at the World Travel Market held at London between 7 to 10 November and it succeeded in not only capturing the interest of the visitors but also setting new benchmarks for other countries to promote their tourism products.

Earlier this year, JTB made its presence felt on key social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter through aggressive blogging about destinations and tweeting about the latest events, news, and tourism offerings etc. In fact, the island recently hit a Facebook milestone by reaching 100,000 fans of its Facebook page, and in this way it became the first Caribbean destination to achieve this landmark volume.

The JTB is alive to the continuous changes being witnessed in the media landscape and has opened dialog with the locals, visitors and potential visitors to share information on the country’s tourism product, culture and heritage.

The tourism board is also moving beyond the First World to target emerging markets to bring in the visitors. The efforts seem to be bearing fruit, and if estimates are anything to go by, the island is set to welcome more visitors than ever during the upcoming High Season.

Jamaica has also added to its tourism infrastructure, the latest addition being the new pier at Falmouth which will begin operations in January next year. Anticipating a surge in tourist activity in the region, Chukka Caribbean Adventures, the award-winning tour operator company has added more tours and is investing heavily in Good Hope and Falmouth.

Jamaica rentals in the vicinity such as Silver Sands Villas are also upbeat about the increase in business opportunities the efforts are bringing. In fact, Silver Sands Villas in Jamaica are going from strength to strength and judging by the positive feedback they are receiving from satisfied guests on review sites such as TripAdvisor, are fast emerging as a leader for accommodation in Jamaica.