By Caribbean News Now contributor MIAMI, USA — Tropical Storm Isaac is expected to bring storm force winds and heavy rain to parts of the Lesser Antilles from about 2:00 am Thursday morning. Tropical storm warnings are in effect for Dominica, Guadeloupe and Martinique. Tropical storm watches are in effect for Antigua, Montserrat, St Kitts […]

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By Melanius Alphonse Caribbean News Now associate editor melanius@caribbeannewsnow.com CASTRIES, St Lucia — The story so far: In 2014, the then Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) government of Saint Lucia submitted a formal request to the US Justice Department for assistance in its ongoing investigation into an alleged corrupt agreement between a South Florida businessman […]

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By the Caribbean Journal staff

Jamaica is set to host a major new tourism conference this week.

It’s called the Tourism Resilience Summit, and it’s bringing together stakeholders from the Caribbean and the Americas to look at ways to build resilience across the region.

That includes addressing disruptive challenges from climate change to cybercrime.

The event is being spearheaded by Jamaica Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, who has been making Jamaica a new global center for tourism-focused events, most notably with last year’s World Tourism Organization meeting in Montego Bay.

It’s being held at the University of the West Indies Mona campus in St Andrew, Jamaica.

“Because of its very character, [tourism] is susceptible to all sorts of shocks, both endogenous and exogenous, and these can have deleterious impact on economies and also on the pace of development as well as the scale and scope of developments in [tourism-dependent] countries,” Bartlett said.

This week’s summit will “assess existing and emerging disruptions related to tourism management globally, and the risk of these to the global tourism product; and identify a synergetic, strategic and operational framework for partnerships between and among major governmental, non-governmental and business entities to address and develop mitigation strategies for these disruptions,” Bartlett said.

The post Jamaica Set for Tourism Resilience Summit appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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By the Caribbean Journal staff

Earlier this year, Canadian carrier WestJet launched its new low-cost airline, Swoop.

And it seemed like it was only a matter of time before the new carrier launched its first Caribbean flights.

Well, its happened.

Swoop has announced plans to launch its first Caribbean route, with nonstop flights from Hamilton International Airport to Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Round Hill, one of the top places to stay in greater Montego Bay.

“The addition of Montego Bay to our network is another important milestone,” said Steven Greenway, President of Swoop. “Many Canadians of Jamaican origin live in the Toronto area, which makes this new route ideal for connecting friends, family and loved ones, as does the vacation appeal of replacing ten feet of snow with ten miles of white sand beaches this winter.”

The new service to Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport will begin Dec. 16, operating twice weekly on Wednesday and Sundays, running through April 24, 2019.

A secluded beach in Montego Bay.

“MBJ welcomes Swoop from Hamilton, Canada,” said Rafael Echevarne, CEO of MBJ Airports Limited. “We congratulate Swoop in the commencement of this service to Montego Bay which will provide passengers in Hamilton and the surrounding area a great additional option to visit Montego Bay and Jamaica. We look forward to this service and the additional passengers from this service. Welcome to Montego Bay and Jamaica.”

With the launch, Swoop, which operates a fleet of four Boeing 737-800 aircraft, will become the first Canadian low-cost carrier to run service from Canada to the Caribbean. The move also helps strengthen WestJet’s continually expanding presence in the Caribbean market.

Sandals Montego Bay.

So what will pricing be like?

Swoop just launched bookings for the Hamilton-Montego Bay flights, with fares totaling around $149 CAD each way.

By comparison, a sample Sunday-Wednesday itinerary from Toronto to Montego Bay on WestJet in mid-December cost almost $740 CAD, a rather significant difference.

— CJ

The post WestJet’s Swoop Is Launching Its First Nonstop Caribbean Flights appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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