Jamaica’s role in spearheading the recovery of the Caribbean’s travel and tourism economy is to be acknowledged by World Travel Awards at a VIP ceremony in Montego Bay in October.
The awards programme, hailed as the ‘Oscars of the travel industry’ by the global media, noted that Jamaica’s growth in visitor arrivals this year is expected to beat 2010’s impressive five percent rise, and comes despite the on-going austerity challenges of key source markets in Europe and North America.
The ceremony, which takes place at Sandals Royal Caribbean Resort & Private Island on October 7th 2011, is set to attract the top decision-makers and thought leaders from across the Americas and Caribbean as they compete for the most influential accolades in travel.
After months of intense voting, featuring more than 2,000 organisations, the nominees have been whittled down to the elite few.
Categories to watch include “Caribbean’s Leading Destination” with Aruba, Barbados, Bahamas, Jamaica, St Lucia and Turks & Caicos among those competing for top honours.
Meanwhile “Caribbean’s Leading Hotel” sees stiff competition between such iconic properties as Half Moon, A RockResort (Jamaica), Jumby Bay (Antigua), Parrot Cay (Turks & Caicos) and Sandy Lane (Barbados).
Rivalry on a country level is also intense, notably in the race for the tile of “Jamaica’s Leading Resort”, which sees Beaches Boscobel Resort & Golf Club, Couples Negril, Sandals Grande Riviera Beach & Villa Golf Resort and The Ritz-Carlton Golf & Spa Resort, Rose Hall, all going head-to head.