Unique Jamaica News
Run to the Reggae Beat, beginning with a pre-dawn, torch lit ritual of Rastafarian drummers. Held every first Saturday in December, the Reggae Marathon & Half Marathon is staged in Negril, capital of casual, and features a mostly flat, certified, IAAF certified course, running parallel to Negril's spectacular white sand beach on Jamaica's north coast.
Combine the race with a chance to explore and experience Negril and it's environs. Reggae Marathon is a member of Unique Jamaica, a consortium of private companies, offering events, eco-tourism, adventuer sports and accomodation on one website, with the aim that visitors experience the soul of this spectacular island.
Kenwood Travel is offering Reggae Marathon packages including a choice of accomodation of hotels close to Negril, breakfast, Virgin Airways flights, transfers and government taxes. Prices start from 789pounds per person (based on two sharing) at Rondel Village, an ecologically minded, beachfront retreat set in tropical gardens. Or from 859 pounds per person at the chic Negril Escape Resort & Spa set on the cliffs overlooking the sea. The area offers excellent diving on the coral reefs.
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Unique Jamaica Jerk Trail Launched - June 15, 2006
Visitors to Jamaica can now enjoy an authentic Jamaican culinary adventure thanks to the new “Unique Jamaica Jerk Trail” developed by Unique Jamaica - a consortium of hotels and allied services including attractions and restaurants, dedicated to supporting community efforts and promoting sustainable tourism.
The Jerk Trail to be launched on Friday, June 23, 2006, by Unique Jamaica in association with the Charles Town Maroon Council, features a seven-day tour with a selection of “jerk stops” designed for persons who want to “explore, taste and feel the real Jamaica”. The Minister of Tourism, Entertainment & Culture, Hon. Aloun Ndombet Assamba, will launch the trail.
The launch, on Quao Day, at Charles Town, Portland, is particularly significant given Portland’s reputation as “the Home of Jerk” and Quao’s status as a hero among Charles Town Maroons.
“The Land of Look Behind” – the Charles Town Maroon Village, the first stop on the Unique Jamaica Jerk Trail, allows visitors to meet descendants of the first Africans brought to Jamaica in the 15th and 16th Century by the Spanish. The Maroons will show them how jerk was originally made in a pit in the ground, a process designed to keep smoke to a minimum and so avoid detection by the British who roamed the forests.
After a morning filled with history, culture and epicurean treats, the visitors will continue to Port Antonio and Berridale for a lazy day of rafting down the Rio Grande.
Unique Jamaica Chairman, Millicent Lynch, noted that Jamaican jerked meats (chicken, fish and pork) “have become one of the most defining national, regional and international forms of Jamaican cuisine.” She pointed out however, that while “jerked products are central to the Unique Jamaica Jerk Trail, travelers can enjoy a range of cuisines, treats and experiences – Jamaican style.”
She noted, for instance, that apart from “The Land of Look Behind”, the Unique Jamaica Jerk Trail takes visitors to destinations like Long Bay in Port Antonio, the world famous Appleton Rum Tour in St. Elizabeth, and the home of the award-winning Walkerswood jerk sauces, seasonings and condiments, in Walkerswood, St. Ann.
Mrs. Lynch said that the Unique Jamaica Jerk Trail is the latest of products being launched by the consortium designed “to exceed the expectations of guests by delivering a product that is authentic, interactive and unique.”
Unique Jamaica promotes three niche markets –Soft Adventure including: hinking, birding and water excursions; Culinary and Aesthetic experiences including: food, art and craft festivals; and Heritage and Culture showcasing reggae music concerts, folk music, drama and more.
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For more information, contact: Marcia Erskine
Tel: 960-3170
Marcia Erskine, Managing Director
Marcia Erskine & Associates
Suites 104-105, Jamaica Pegasus Hotel
81 Knutsford Boulevard
Kingston 5
Tel: 876 960-3170 or 960-5308-9
Fax: 876 920-8848
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Caymanas’ Millicent Lynch is new Unique Jamaica Chair
Caymanas Track Limited Marketing Executive, Millicent Lynch, is the new Chairman of Unique Jamaica –a consortium of over 60 private sector companies in or allied to the hospitality and tourism industry.
The group includes hotels, bed and breakfast, accommodations, restaurants, eco and geo-tourist attractions, air and ground transportation, tour operators and others.
Lynch will chair the year three executive, with the support of co-chairs Josef Forstmayr of Round Hill Hotel & Villas and Joan Dove of El Greco Resorts.
The new executive includes four main committees. The Responsible Tourism/Product Committee is chaired by Barbara Walker of Port Antonio’s Mocking Bird Hill Hotel with co-chairs Robin Crum-Ewing, Green Castle Estate and Peter Couch, What’s On Jamaica.
The Marketing, PR and Product Development Committee is chaired by Shireen Aga of Mocking Bird Hill Hotel with Reggae Marathon’s Diane Ellis and Mayfield Falls’ Lily Gayle as co-chairs.
Theo Chambers, Positive Tourism, is chair of the Driving Sales/Organizing Tours Committee supported by co-chairs Angie Dickson, Green Castle Estate and Rebah Reiley, Negril Escape.
The Finance Committee is chaired by Louis Stephenson of Point Village Resorts with co-chairs Robin Crum-Ewing, Green Castle Estate and Hilton Kingston’s Claudette Kenlocke.
Welcoming her new executive, Mrs. Lynch said that “over the past two years, our members have worked hard to lay a strong foundation and we are already reaping the benefits.”
Pointing to the steady increase in membership of the consortium, Mrs. Lynch said that they have been getting very positive feedback from travelers who have experienced the various Unique Jamaica tours.
With a focus on Nature Adventure, Unique Jamaica offers tours in three segments. In the Soft Adventure, including biking, birding, horseback riding and water excursions.
The Culinary & Aesthetic Experience segment features the culinary flavours, food festivals and Jamaican Arts & Craft.
Under Heritage & Culture, Unique Jamaica showcases Reggae music concerts, folk music, classical folk dance, drama and more.
Noting that Unique Jamaica offers products that are authentic, interactive and unique, Mrs. Lynch said that a number of specialized travel packages to give travelers “the real essence of Jamaica”.
Among these are the new Unique Jamaica Jerk Trail, a tour with a selection of “Jerk Stops” that gives travelers a taste (pun intended) of the real Jamaica.
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Marcia Erskine, Managing Director
Marcia Erskine & Associates
Suites 104-105, Jamaica Pegasus Hotel
81 Knutsford Boulevard
Kingston 5
Tel: 876 960-3170 or 960-5308-9
Fax: 876 920-8848
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Positive Tourism publishes www.PositiveTourismNews.Com, the source for current tourism news in Jamaica and the Caribbean. It is a weekly news journal published to the Website and also emailed to our target audience. www.PositiveTourism.Com
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