Jamaican tourism officials are striking an optimistic chord about the destination’s potential recovery once the global coronavirus situation has been controlled.

Jamaica Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says a “new approach” will be needed to rebuild the tourism industry in the aftermath of the global pandemic. 

That will include stimulus packages and rescue support for the tourism sector “to bounce back as quickly as possible after this crisis.”

Omar Robinson, the president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourism Association, said the tourism industry and Jamaica’s government needed to hasten “our negotiations to help organizations ride through this high-level certainty.”

Much of the question of the tourism revival will be tied on how Jamaica’s biggest source markets like the United States are able to control the pandemic. 

“The [duration of the] level of uncertainty and the length of time, will all be dependent on how quickly our major markets can get their own situation under control,” Robinson said. 

— CJ