WASHINGTON, D.C. -- How about a cuppa java and a U.S. passport application? The Jamaican Tourist Board last Tuesday kicked off its Jamaica Morning Coffee Breaks at major commuter terminals in New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C.
Free Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee was offered as well as information on Jamaica travel and the new U.S. passport requirements ahead of the January 2007 Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. The coffee and passport plan, according to JTB official, will continue in additional major U.S. markets through mid-winter 2007.
In D.C. on Nov. 15th, Professor Gordon Shirley, Jamaican Ambassador to the United States with Congresswoman-elect Yvette Clark (D-Brooklyn, N.Y.), were on hand at the Union Station in Washington to hand out cups of hot coffee to commuters along with the necessary passport forms.
Come January 8th, 2007, all air travelers will be required to present a passport to re-enter the United States. Cruise passengers have been granted an extension and will have until 2009 to comply with the new law. Several Caribbean countries, including Jamaica, are also incentivizing travel to the region.
These incentives include hotel services such as food and beverage credit, spa treatments, golf greens fees, attraction tour fees, room upgrades, extra nights, gift shop and photo shop purchases among others.
