Minister of tourism Edmund Bartlett told TTG the island nation hoped to finalise the deal next month.
It follows the signing of an MoU with Cuba last May – part of a wider collaboration between the three countries and the Dominican Republic to boost marketing activity and encourage airlines to offer multi-stop routes within the region.
“With bigger aircraft and larger capacity, it’s attractive to airlines to be able to make multiple stops,” he said.
“For tourists with three or four weeks’ vacation time it is particularly appealing.
“Airlines already do it a bit in the eastern Caribbean but now we want to offer it in the western Caribbean,” he added.
Bartlett claimed that Jamaica, Mexico, Cuba and Dominican Republic account for 70% of all international visitors to the region, making it an attractive area for tour operators.
He said he believed neighbours the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, Haiti and Turks and Caicos could join the agreement in the future.
Bartlett, who was in London for the IAAF athletics world championships – the final competitive event featuring Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt – said the country is currently 5.1% ahead on UK visitor numbers than at the same point last year and presently forecasts between 221,000 and 223,000 visitors for 2017.
He explained that Jamaican tourism officials had reached out to eight-time Olympic champion Bolt, seeking his involvement in future marketing and advertising campaigns.
“We had ads [featuring Bolt] after the Beijing Olympics and they had a good run, so we are hoping that there is space for more of that kind of engagement,” added Bartlett.
He also gave further details of the upcoming UNWTO Conference on Jobs and Inclusive Growth: Partnerships for Sustainable Tourism, being held in Montego Bay in November.
Bartlett said Jamaica was looking forward to hosting up to 800 delegates from more than 150 countries during the event, which will create a “set of goals” for countries to abide by known as the Montego Bay Declaration.
