Tourism Minister to Sign Major Agreement with Airbnb

November 14, 2016November 15, 2016 News Room

Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett (left) greets Shawn Sullivan, Airbnb’s executive with responsibility for Public Policy – Latin America and the Caribbean; and Carlos Muñoz, Head of Public Policy and Government Affairs, Airbnb. The occasion was a courtesy call on the Minister at his New Kingston Offices on November 14, 2016 where they discussed plans to forge a partnership between Airbnb and the Ministry of Tourism to amplify and drive tourism within the country. A memorandum of understanding will be drafted and signed at a later date.

KINGSTON, Jamaica; November 14, 2016: Honouring his commitment to develop new tourism-partnerships, Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett today (November 14, 2016) announced that the Ministry of Tourism is set to sign a major agreement with Airbnb to augment and drive growth within the tourism industry.

The Minister, who made the announcement during a meeting with Airbnb executives, at the Ministry’s New Kingston offices, is very optimistic about the potential impact this will have on community tourism and is eager to finalize a memorandum of understanding to concretize the partnership.

“We are very happy to be partnering with Airbnb and know that it will be mutually beneficial to both entities involved. Once drafted, I know that the agreement will take into account our goal of destination assurance, which ensures our credibility in the marketplace. It will also allow us to utilize analytics across their social platforms. This will be a great tool for us to build a better collective resource management platform for our destination,” said Minister Bartlett.

According to Airbnb’s executive with responsibility for Public Policy in Latin America and the Caribbean, Shawn Sullivan, the market for Airbnb in Jamaica is rapidly growing and is extremely lucrative. The site currently accounts for 2,300 active hosts and 4,000 active listings in the past year from Jamaica.

“Generally in the Caribbean people will rent their entire homes. Here in Jamaica, we are seeing a mixture between private homes versus a private space in someone’s home. We were responsible for bringing in roughly 32,000 tourists within the past year and we believe that this collaboration will allow this to grow exponentially,” explained Mr Sullivan.

Airbnb is a trusted community marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world online or from a mobile phone or tablet. It connects people to unique travel experiences, at any price point, in more than 34,000 cities and 191 countries. With a growing community of users, Airbnb is one of the easiest ways for people to monetize their extra space and showcase it to an audience of millions.

Commentary

Any initiative to improve our world class tourism product is welcome and appreciated.

Minister Bartlett has never failed to deliver to date. He is known to be someone of considerable vision.

Commentary by Hopeton O’Connor-Dennie is Senior International Correspondent & photojournalist for Vision Newspaper Canada.