Introduction
The Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), founded in 1955, is Jamaica’s national tourism agency with head offices based in the capital city of Kingston. The Board is fully funded by the government of Jamaica and is responsible for worldwide tourism marketing and promotion for the island of Jamaica. It has as its mission the development and marketing of the tourist industry so that Jamaica remains the premier Caribbean tourist Destination. The JTB’s mandate is aggressively pursued primarily through the promotion of Jamaica as a preferred travel destination; identifying new and emerging consumer groups, cultivation new relationships with travel partners and the dissemination of timely and useful marketing information to its offices and travel partners across the world.
The Jamaica Tourist Board is the most preferred point of contact for persons travelling to Jamaica. The organization markets the uniqueness and diversity of destination JAMAICA through creative programmes and advertisements worldwide. Throughout the years, the JTB has been recognized for its exceptional leadership and outstanding service with accolades from industry and trade partners both regionally and internationally. JTB offices are located in Kingston, Montego Bay, Miami, Toronto and London. Representative’s offices are located in Berlin (Germany), Barcelona (Spain), Rome (Italy), Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Mumbai (India) and Tokyo (Japan)
The JTB was originally responsible both for marketing Jamaica as a tourist destination as well as for product development. Product development became the responsibility of the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCO) with its establishment in the 1970s. In 1981, TPDCo was merged with the JTB. In 1993 the marketing and product functions were again separated and remain so to date. However, the statutory responsibility for this area still resides with the Board under the Tourist Board Act.