(Jamaica Observer) As Jamaica’s tourism sector continues to rebound, Montego Bay will this evening welcome the first of once weekly flights from one of the world’s richest countries, Switzerland.
The flights are operated by Edelweiss Air, a Swiss leisure airline owned by Swiss International Airlines and the Lufthansa Group, based in the country’s largest city, Zurich.
“This flight will be truly monumental for us. We began these discussions in 2018 when we met with stakeholders at the ITB Berlin trade show. So it is truly amazing to see this finally coming to fruition,” said Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett.
In March 2018, the Observer first reported that Jamaica was closer to establishing flights between the two countries as part of Bartlett’s aggressive European tourism growth strategy, with the Germany-based ITB Berlin trade show being the base for discussions with airlines and tour companies.
ITB is the largest trade show of its kind in the world, attracting more than 100,000 visitors and 10,000 exhibitors to trade stands, talks and workshops.
In 2018 Jamaica was prominently represented at ITB with Bartlett, Director of Tourism Donovan White; Senior Advisor and Strategist Delano Seiveright, and Europe-based Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) officials led by Gregory Shervington who is piloting the island’s European tourism growth strategy.
“Prior to the global shutdown of the travel industry in 2020, Swiss tourists were among the most travelled globally and Jamaica stood to benefit strongly from flights between both countries. We are grateful that we will now make coming to Jamaica a lot easier for them with seamless travel between one of their major cities and Montego Bay,” declared Bartlett.
