Jamaica will host the second CTO Air Connectivity Summit | in February News
Jamaica will host the second annual Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Air Connectivity Summit in Kingston on February 23, 2027, building on the success of this year’s first event in Bermuda and aiming to promote regional air travel amid ongoing global challenges.
Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett made the announcement Thursday during a speech at the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) Caribbean Travel Marketplace in Antigua.
“The summit will provide strategic insight for regional planning,” Minister Bartlett said. “Jamaica will use that not only as a means to bring together aviation partners, but also to brainstorm … to think about the future of air connectivity in our region, which is so important.”
The Jamaican tourism leader noted that the timing will coincide with an increased focus on resilience, just a week after the United Nations-designated Global Tourism Resilience Day on February 17 – an initiative that Jamaica championed.
The summit follows the first CTO Air Connectivity Summit held on February 24, 2026 in Hamilton, Bermuda. That event prompted tourism ministers and directors, airline executives, airport leaders and industry stakeholders to address capacity shortages, high taxes and fees, and the need for stronger intra-regional and long-distance services.
In her closing remarks, Rosa Harris, chair of the CTO Airlift Committee and director of tourism for the Cayman Islands, described air connectivity as “our oxygen” and “an economic lifeline” for the region.
“If we can’t get off the island, we can’t do business and we can’t feed our people,” Harris said. She highlighted two key milestones achieved: ASM’s implementation of the CTO Airlift Study and the successful hosting of the inaugural summit.
Highlighting data-driven route development, Harris noted that the research showed steady traffic growth alongside capacity shortages in Europe and key South American markets – particularly Italy, Argentina, Chile and Brazil – with strong potential for new direct services.
Destinations were encouraged to build credible business cases for airlines, reduce new routes through joint marketing, optimize existing infrastructure before expanding, and reduce dependence on high taxes and airport charges that hinder travel within the Caribbean.
“Competition is our fragmentation – we must increase our collective marketing power,” Harris quoted Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism Grisha Heyliger-Marten of Sint Maarten. It called for a shift from competition to cooperation, stronger coordination between the ministries of finance, immigration and tourism, mutual agreements and ensuring adequate and diverse accommodation, while carefully managing seat capacity.
The Bermuda Summit also produced a memorandum of understanding between CTO and Airports Council International – Latin America and the Caribbean to strengthen cooperation between aviation and tourism.
Dona Regis-Prosper, Secretary General and CEO of the CTO, said continued momentum is critical. “Hosting the 2027 Summit in Jamaica will allow us to translate Bermuda’s insights into concrete actions – forging new partnerships, addressing persistent air transport challenges and strengthening the One Caribbean vision for resilient, connected growth,” she said.
She will soon head to Jamaica to meet with tourism director Donovan White to develop plans for the event, which will focus on building credible business cases for airlines, optimizing infrastructure, expanding interline agreements and diversifying source markets.
It comes as the region grapples with geopolitical headwinds while celebrating gains from South America, which saw a 23.7% increase in arrivals to the Caribbean in 2025, reaching 2.4 million visits.
In addition, Saint Lucia will host the first CTO Latin American Market Summit on May 5-6, 2027, with a strong focus on improving air connectivity to that fast-growing market.
