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Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett (left) presents the one millionth visitor to Jamaica since the start of the year, Angela Wilson of New York City with a gift. Sharing in the moment (from left) are: Director and Chairman of the Jamaica Tourist Board, John Lynch; Mrs Wilson's husband Aaron Wilson; and Area Chairman of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), Omar Robinson. The Wilsons arrived at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay on Sunday, where they were welcomed and congratulated.

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica (JIS) -- Jamaica's Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, on Sunday welcomed to Montego Bay, the country's one millionth visitor for 2010, Angella Wilson, and her husband Aaron Wilson from New York.

The couple, who were visiting Jamaica together for the first time, was excited about the special surprise reception and said that they were looking forward to "the time of their lives" in the island.

Bartlett, accompanied by members of the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) and Ministry representatives, showered the couple with gifts and accolades during a brief ceremony at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay.

"We are very delighted in fact to welcome the one millionth visitors to Montego Bay's Sangster International Airport today, and this is very significant as we make the distinction because to date we have just about 1.3 million arrivals since the start of the year, but through the airports we now have the one millionth visitors. We continue to market destination Jamaica in a very strong way and we are very pleased that we have recovered to a large extent from the limited State of Emergency and the problems that emanated there from. We are now back into growth and this has resulted from really hard work on the part of our team," Bartlett told JIS News.

He paid tribute to members of the JTB team and the tourism stakeholders who have done their part to drive the market recovery.

"One of the points that has been of tremendous value is that not a single flight was cancelled, not a single airline decided that it was not going to continue flying in its normal routine during the difficult months and that has enabled us to preserve the connectivity that we have with the destinations . but the critical thing is that we are remaining apace in terms of our revised projections for the end of the year ... I was hoping to make two million arrivals this year," Bartlett pointed out.

Chairman of the JTB, John Lynch, also extended his congratulations to the visitors.

"There are undoubtedly wonderful prospects in tourism for this country as this is unquestionably the best product in the Caribbean. I just want to take this opportunity to congratulate this wonderful couple for making it Jamaica and I wish for them an extra special vacation," Lynch said.

Mrs Wilson told JIS News that she and her husband were happy to be in Jamaica and were looking forward to their special vacation.

"This is my second time and my husband's first time and really our first time here together. We are truly excited and we are certainly looking forward for a good time in your island," she told JIS News.

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