Donnie
Dawson, who final month retired as deputy director of the Jamaica Tourist Board
(JTB), was a journey advisor supporter years earlier than pandemic-induced disruptions
led to a brand new appreciation for his or her providers.
Dawson’s
early appreciation for advisors’ onerous work and experience are his signature
legacies, in line with the professionals with whom he’s teamed to construct Jamaica’s
tourism trade.
“Having
labored with Jamaica’s nationwide airline and most just lately because the proprietor of a
journey company for 11 years, Donnie’s model of management has at all times been
admired,” mentioned Claire Robinson, proprietor of Clear Skies Travel.
Ironically,
all through his 40 years in Jamaica’s tourism trade, Dawson contended
with analysts’ predictions of advisors’ impending demise, with vacationers purportedly
abandoning skilled retailers for on-line reserving platforms.
“I’ve
heard it time and again for 40 years,” Dawson mentioned in a March JTB assertion. “The
retailers are going to exit of enterprise [because of] the OTAs.”
Nevertheless,
“They’re still here, man,” Dawson mentioned. Even Expedia has a program for journey advisors,
he famous.
Travel
advisors are additionally on the core of this system with which Dawson is most
related, the 12-year-old Jamaica Travel Specialist course, an agent
schooling module which has “grown beyond expectations,” in line with JTB
officers.
The
program has produced tens of hundreds of graduates, officers mentioned, enabling JTB
to create a core database of Jamaica sellers. “That to me might be considered one of my
crowning achievements that I might replicate on,” Dawson mentioned.
Not
surprisingly, Dawson’s in depth journey trade connections embrace advisors
whose cite him as a catalyst in their very own achievement. “The
foresight Donnie had in championing the importance of conventional journey
advisors to tourism in Jamaica has had an infinite impression on my private
success,” mentioned Lindsey Johnson, proprietor of Tropics Travel LLC.
Dawson
has additionally instantly influenced “the success of numerous different journey advisors
and businesses,” Johnson mentioned.
Dawson’s
management was most notably on show through the pandemic, throughout which “he supplied
such a optimistic environment and reassurance to all segments of the trade,” mentioned
Robinson. “It
was straightforward to see that although the highway forward was briefly rocky, there would
be clear skies forward.”
Dawson’s
4 many years as a Jamaica tourism official paralleled the expansion of the island’s
lodging sector as room capability tripled to greater than 30,000.
At
the identical time, he directed efforts to extend Jamaica’s air connectivity (changing into
identified amongst colleagues as “Mr. Airlift” within the course of).
“Jamaica
is deeply indebted to Donnie Dawson for his many years of service to develop and
promote tourism to the island,” mentioned Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s minister of tourism.
“He
has been a steadfast ambassador all through the years, devoted to serving to
Jamaica turn into one of many world’s main tourism locations. We are really grateful to him for all the pieces he has completed and
want him a really glad retirement.”
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Source: www.travelpulse.com”