Jamaica’s tourism growth hasn’t been quite as brisk as the island might like in the last year. And with the Jamaica Tourist Board looking to change that, it’s made the natural choice: tapping the world’s fastest man: Usain Bolt.
The Olympic legend has been officially named as the island’s new Global Tourism Ambassador.
The announcement was made by Jamaica Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett and Director of Tourism Donovan White to mark the 70th anniversary of the JTB.
Jamaica was one of just a small handful of destinations that saw a contraction in stayover tourism arrivals last year, according to data provided by the Caribbean Tourism Organization.
The hope is that the appointment of Bolt, long one of the top unofficial ambassadors for the island, can go a long way toward pushing the island back into positive arrival territory.
It doesn’t hurt to use Bolt, one of the most popular athletes on Planet Earth — as close to a sure-thing tourism move as a destination marketing organization can make.
In a statement, the JTB called it a “bold and dynamic step into the future of destination marketing.”
Bolt is the latest in a line of Olympic athletes who have taken on tourism responsibilities, including the recent move by Saint Lucia to name that island’s first-ever gold medalist, Julien Alfred, as its own tourism ambassador.