Jamaica has a big new plan to attract more tourists: entertainment.

According to Jamaica Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett, the plan is to promote Jamaica as the “premier location for guaranteed quality entertainment year-round.”

“What we want to do is to establish the reggae music experience that will bring visitors from all over the world,” he said this week.”Instead of looking at single events, we will be looking now on a product that we can package and… market and it offers some kind of certitude as to the quality and high standards and also it gives a timeline and… a venue.”

One proof of concept in Bartlett’s eyes is the Reggae Sumfest concert event, which he said had been “instrumental” in bringing visitors to the country for 24 years.

“We are going to be having a meeting with all the main providers of international offerings in music and to see how we can pull it all together to produce that product so that the 25th [Sumfest] will be exciting and different and will hopefully bring more of the international Jamaican artistes,” he said.

— CJ Staff