BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (January 10, 2007) – Chairman of the Barbados Tourism Authority, Peter Odle, has welcomed Air Jamaica’s new daily non-stop service between New York and Barbados as “100 per cent positive”.

Speaking before the new daily flights between New York and Barbados began on Wednesday, January 10th, 2007, the tourism chief said the development, which followed the decision by the new Caribbean Airlines (formerly BWIA West Indies Airways) to pull out from this route, was positive for leisure, VFR (Visiting, Friends and Family) and other markets.

“The Barbados Tourism Authority moved quickly to the plate once we realised what was happening. (We) approached Air Jamaica and they responded in the way that we hoped they would,” said Odle, who is also the president of the Caribbean Hotel Association. “We are hoping that it is going to be a long term partnership for Barbados.”

Odle’s comments were echoed by Barbadian Patrick Cozier, Secretary General of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union, who said Barbadians should be grateful for the new service. “New York is one of the critical points for supplying tourism into Barbados and to have that market relatively un-serviced would create a vulnerability for our tourism market that we really can’t afford,” he said.