Jamaica will host the CTO summit on Caribbean air connectivity in 2027
Jamaica will host the second annual Caribbean Tourism Organization Air Connectivity Summit on February 23, 2027, in Kingston, a gathering designed as one of the key regional venues for discussing airline route development, sustainable tourism growth, and better connectivity among Caribbean destinations. According to an announcement by the tourism portal eTurboNews, the announcement was made by Jamaican Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett during his appearance at the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association Caribbean Travel Marketplace in Antigua and Barbuda. The Kingston summit will build on the first edition held on February 24, 2026, in Hamilton, Bermuda, where tourism ministers, airport leaders, airline representatives, tourism organization directors, and other sector stakeholders gathered. For Jamaica, hosting the event is especially important because the country has for months emphasized that expanding air capacity is one of the foundations of tourism recovery and long-term growth. The event will also confirm that the issue of Caribbean air accessibility is no longer viewed merely as an operational problem for airlines, but as a strategic development issue for the entire region.
Kingston as a regional point for discussion on aviation and tourism
According to the available information, the summit will be held in Kingston, the political and economic center of Jamaica, and is expected to bring together the public and private sectors from several Caribbean countries. Minister Bartlett linked the announcement to the need for the region to discuss the future of air transport more systematically, especially in the context of tourism resilience, travel costs, and the growth of new source markets. As reported by eTurboNews, Bartlett said the summit would serve for strategic reflection on regional planning and for bringing aviation partners together around issues that are crucial to the Caribbean tourism industry. Such a format is important because many Caribbean destinations depend on air connections with a limited number of major markets, while travel within the region itself is often expensive, complex, and inconvenient in terms of time. In that context, Kingston 2027 will not only be the host of a conference, but also a place where more concrete cooperation between tourism authorities, airports, airlines, and ministries of finance, transport, and tourism could be shaped.
Jamaica's hosting comes after the CTO officially announced the first edition of the summit in Bermuda in January 2026, under the theme “Integrating Aviation and Regional Tourism Development”. According to the CTO, that one-day gathering was part of the organization's broader plan to reshape regional tourism, and it followed consultations with the council of ministers, the board of directors, and the air transport committee. Discussions focused on improving access to air routes, sustainable route development, and aligning aviation strategy with the growth of the tourism sector. The participation of representatives of airlines, airports, regulators, research companies, and tourism authorities showed that the CTO is trying to create a permanent platform for solving problems that recur in almost all island economies in the region. Jamaica, as the host of the second edition, will take over that framework and try to direct it toward more concrete projects, new partnerships, and possible routes.
Why air connectivity is crucial for the Caribbean
Air connectivity for the Caribbean has significance that goes beyond tourism, because it affects trade, employment, investment, population mobility, and the ability to respond quickly in crises. Island destinations depend on regular, financially sustainable, and reliable links with their main markets, and any reduction in capacity can quickly affect hotel occupancy, the revenues of local entrepreneurs, and public finances. In announcing the Bermuda summit, the CTO stated that discussions would focus on practical solutions to common challenges in air transport, including sustainable route development and the alignment of aviation with regional tourism goals. In practice, this means that destinations are increasingly expected to offer airlines convincing data, clear business cases, and coordinated promotional activities, rather than only general calls for the opening of new routes. That is precisely why the focus of the CTO summits is data-supported planning, cooperation among several countries, and the reduction of obstacles that make travel within the region expensive.
The first edition of the summit also opened the question of capacity toward Europe, South America, and other markets that are becoming increasingly important for individual Caribbean destinations. According to the eTurboNews report, the Bermuda gathering highlighted challenges related to a lack of capacity, high taxes and fees, and the need to strengthen long-haul and intra-regional connections. The same report states that participants were encouraged to develop credible business cases for airlines, jointly market new routes, make better use of existing infrastructure, and reduce reliance on high charges that make travel within the Caribbean more difficult. Such an approach shows that the problem is not only the number of flights, but also the broader conditions under which airlines can maintain routes. If taxes, charges, and operating costs are too high, new routes become harder to sustain, even when tourist demand exists.
Jamaica expands air connections and seeks more diverse markets
Ahead of hosting the summit, Jamaica is trying to show that air connectivity is not only a topic of regional declarations, but part of its own tourism strategy. The Jamaica Information Service reported in early April 2026 that Minister Bartlett, at the reopening of Bahia Principe Runaway Bay in St. Ann, emphasized that the expansion of air links and new capacity are crucial for the recovery and long-term growth of Jamaican tourism. According to that official report, Jamaica is recording growth from the South American market, driven by increased Copa Airlines activity to Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay. Bartlett also cited additional flights from Colombia, including connections from Medellín and Bogotá, as well as the expansion of European links, including from the United Kingdom and Germany. Such moves are important because Jamaica, like other Caribbean destinations, is trying to reduce dependence on several traditional markets and increase the sector's resilience to disruptions.
In recent years, Jamaica's tourism sector has been strongly tied to air transport capacity, and the government often emphasizes that the growth of the hotel supply must be accompanied by growth in the number of seats on international flights. According to the Jamaica Information Service report, Bartlett said that the purpose of tourism development is closely connected with bringing in airlines, because an increase in the number of rooms must be accompanied by additional flights in order to sustain growth in arrivals. This is also important for investors, because new hotel rooms cannot achieve their full potential if the destination does not have a sufficient number of regular and affordable air connections. At the same time, stronger air accessibility enables a better distribution of tourist traffic throughout the year, opens space for congress and business tourism, and makes it easier for visitors from more distant markets to arrive. Hosting the CTO summit therefore fits into Jamaica's broader message that it wants to be an active regional actor, not merely one of the destinations that depend on the decisions of major airlines.
The Bermuda summit as a foundation for the next phase
The first CTO Air Connectivity Summit, held in Bermuda on February 24, 2026, served as a starting point for a more structured regional discussion. According to the CTO's official announcement, the program included a presentation on the current state and outlook of Caribbean aviation, the presentation of an air connectivity study prepared by ASM, panel discussions on international and intra-regional route development, a ministerial dialogue on air transport strategy, and discussions on the relationship between aviation infrastructure and tourism development. Such content shows that the CTO is trying to bridge the gap between tourism ambitions and real operational conditions in air transport. In island economies, infrastructure, airport capacities, the regulatory framework, safety requirements, and the commercial logic of airlines must be viewed together. Without such an approach, it is difficult to expect stable, long-term, and affordable routes.
One of the concrete results of the Bermuda summit was the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the CTO and Airports Council International – Latin America and the Caribbean. According to the ACI-LAC announcement, the memorandum establishes a non-binding framework for cooperation aimed at improving air access, strengthening institutional and human capacities, and supporting sustainable, resilient, and inclusive tourism growth in CTO member states and the wider Caribbean area. Although the memorandum does not in itself create new routes, it is important because it connects tourism organizations and airports in a longer-term planning process. For a region facing high costs, climate risks, and changing patterns of demand, such frameworks can be useful if they are translated into concrete data analyses, training, better capacity management, and joint approaches toward airlines. Kingston 2027 will be an opportunity to show how much that process has advanced after the first summit.
Broader significance for visitors, hotels, and local economies
For travelers, better air connectivity can mean more direct flights, shorter connections, a wider choice of travel dates, and potentially more stable prices, although prices depend on a range of market and regulatory factors. For hotels, restaurants, transport providers, and local tourist guides, air routes directly affect occupancy, workforce planning, and product development. If connections to Kingston, Montego Bay, and other Caribbean hubs increase, it becomes easier to develop business travel, specialized events, sports meetings, and cultural manifestations. Visitors planning to arrive during the summit or other business events in Kingston can monitor accommodation near the event venue, especially because larger regional gatherings can increase demand in certain parts of the city. Still, the main significance of the summit will be in its long-term effect on route planning, not only in the number of participants who will travel to the event itself.
For local economies, the question of air accessibility is especially sensitive after weather and other disruptions that can quickly affect tourism. In November 2025, the Associated Press reported on pressure on Jamaica's tourism sector after Hurricane Melissa, with authorities and the industry working to restore capacity ahead of the peak season. Although the 2027 summit is not directly related to that event, the recovery context shows why Jamaica emphasizes resilience, market diversity, and stable air links in its tourism policies. When a destination faces a crisis, the ability to quickly re-establish flights, coordinate with airlines, and clearly inform the market becomes crucial. For that reason, the discussion on air connectivity is increasingly linked to climate resilience, crisis management, and the sustainable development of the tourism offering.
Expectations from the Kingston summit in 2027
According to eTurboNews, CTO Secretary-General and CEO Dona Regis-Prosper assessed that holding the 2027 summit in Jamaica would enable insights from Bermuda to be turned into more concrete activities, including new partnerships, solving long-standing problems in air transport, and strengthening the “One Caribbean” vision. The announcement also states that preparations will include talks with Donovan White, Jamaica's Director of Tourism, about a program that should be focused on credible business cases for airlines, infrastructure optimization, the expansion of interline agreements, and market diversification. Such topics point to the continuation of a more technically demanding discussion, in which destinations will be asked for more data, coordination, and readiness for joint action. If the summit remains only at the level of general messages about the importance of tourism, its impact will be limited. If, however, it serves to align concrete routes, models for financing promotion, and the reduction of barriers for travelers, it could have more lasting regional significance.
An additional dimension is provided by the fact that the Kingston summit is announced for February 23, 2027, several days after Global Tourism Resilience Day, which is marked on February 17 and which Jamaica has strongly promoted in international tourism circles. This timing enables the hosts to connect air connectivity with tourism resilience, market expansion, and the preparation of destinations for disruptions. For Caribbean countries, which are exposed to climate risks, changes in global demand, and high operating costs, the question of how people reach a destination becomes just as important as the tourism offering itself. Jamaica will therefore have an opportunity in Kingston in 2027 to show whether the regional discussion can move from the diagnosis phase to the implementation phase. The answer to that question will also determine how much the summit will confirm itself as a permanent platform for connecting tourism, aviation, and Caribbean development.
Sources:
- eTurboNews – announcement that Jamaica will host the second CTO Air Connectivity Summit in Kingston on February 23, 2027, and statements by Edmund Bartlett and Dona Regis-Prosper (link)
- Caribbean Tourism Organization / OneCaribbean.org – official announcement of the first CTO Air Connectivity Summit in Bermuda and description of its goals, participants, and program (link)
- Jamaica Information Service – official report on the role of expanded air connectivity in the recovery and growth of Jamaican tourism (link)
- Airports Council International – Latin America and the Caribbean – announcement on the CTO and ACI-LAC memorandum to strengthen Caribbean air connectivity and tourism development (link)
- Associated Press – report on the impact of Hurricane Melissa on Jamaica and pressures on the tourism sector ahead of the season (link)