Jamaica will host the second annual Caribbean Tourism Organization Air Connectivity Summit in Kingston on Feb. 23, 2027, as regional tourism leaders intensify efforts to improve air travel across the Caribbean amid ongoing global economic and geopolitical challenges.
Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett made the announcement Thursday while addressing delegates at the Caribbean Travel Marketplace in Antigua.
“The summit will provide strategic insight for regional planning,” Bartlett said. “Jamaica will use that as a means not only of bringing airline partners together, but also to engage in some cerebration … some thinking around the future of air connectivity in our region, which is so important.”
Bartlett noted the timing of the summit will align closely with the observance of Global Tourism Resilience Day on Feb. 17, an initiative championed by Jamaica and recognized by the United Nations.
The upcoming summit builds on momentum from the inaugural CTO Air Connectivity Summit, which was held on Feb. 24, 2026, in Hamilton. That gathering brought together tourism ministers, airline executives, airport officials and other stakeholders to tackle longstanding regional aviation issues, including limited seat capacity, high taxes and fees, and weak intra-Caribbean connectivity.
In closing remarks at the Bermuda summit, Rosa Harris, chair of the CTO Airlift Committee and director of tourism for the Cayman Islands, described air connectivity as “our oxygen” and “an economic lifeline” for Caribbean nations.
“If we can’t get off the island, we can’t develop business, we can’t feed our people,” Harris said.
She pointed to two key achievements from the summit: the completion of the CTO Airlift Study by aviation consultancy ASM and the successful staging of the first connectivity summit.
According to Harris, the study revealed continued passenger growth but also identified major capacity gaps in Europe and South America, particularly in markets such as Italy, Argentina, Chile and Brazil, which were highlighted as having strong potential for new direct air services to the Caribbean.
Regional tourism officials were urged to develop stronger business cases for airlines, reduce dependence on high taxes and airport fees, optimize current airport infrastructure and expand collaborative marketing efforts to support new routes.
“Competition is our fragmentation — we must expand our collective marketing power,” Harris quoted Grisha Heyliger-Marten, deputy prime minister and minister of tourism for Sint Maarten.
Participants also called for greater collaboration among ministries responsible for tourism, finance and immigration, as well as more interline agreements and better coordination of hotel room supply with airline seat capacity.
The Bermuda summit additionally resulted in a memorandum of understanding between the Caribbean Tourism Organization and Airports Council International – Latin America and the Caribbean aimed at strengthening aviation-tourism cooperation across the region.
Dona Regis-Prosper, secretary-general and CEO of the CTO, said maintaining momentum will be critical heading into the 2027 summit.
“Hosting the 2027 summit in Jamaica will allow us to translate the insights from Bermuda into concrete actions — forging new partnerships, addressing persistent challenges in airlift and strengthening the One Caribbean vision for resilient, connected growth,” she said.
Regis-Prosper is expected to travel to Jamaica soon to meet with Donovan White to advance planning for the summit, which will focus on route development strategies, infrastructure optimization, expanded interline agreements and diversifying source markets.
The renewed push for stronger airlift comes as Caribbean destinations seek to navigate geopolitical uncertainty while capitalizing on strong tourism growth from South America. The region recorded a 23.7% increase in arrivals from South America in 2025, reaching 2.4 million visits.
Separately, Saint Lucia will host the inaugural CTO Latin American Market Summit on May 5-6, 2027, with a major focus on improving air connectivity to the rapidly expanding Latin American market.
