A bevy of Canadian beauties pose with Hedonism II's Managing Director Kevin Levee. - File

Canadians are travelling more during the summer months than in previous years, according to Suzanne Fleming, SuperClubs' director of sales for Canada.

"We now have increased Canadian occupancy in the hotel and a longer travel period because people are now travelling in summer. Several years ago, we had minimal people coming from Canada in the summer to vacation in the Caribbean and in Jamaica," Fleming said told The Gleaner.

This trend is reflected in Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) statistics.

Figures from the JTB website indicate that between 2003 and 2008, visitor arrivals from Canada during the month of August almost doubled, rising from 6,170 to 11,720 over the period.

Fleming says the turnaround has come as a result of continued promotion by stakeholders in the tourism sector.

One such recent promotion, by SuperClubs and partners, involved a live broadcast from SuperClubs Grand Lido Braco by one of Canada's leading radio stations, Virgin 99.9 FM out of Toronto.

"We did a radio promotion for about four weeks with two weeks of daily giveaways to callers, wherein two people would win a super-inclusive holiday at Grand Lido Braco. This includes airfare and taxes sponsored by iTravel2000.com and the Jamaica Tourist Board and the land portion sponsored by Grand Lido Braco," Fleming explained.

The 20 prize-winners vacationed at Grand Lido Braco during the period that Virgin 99.9FM was broadcasting live from the hotel back to the Greater Toronto Area and Toronto, Canada.

Fleming added: "This promotion will result in more exposure for Jamaica, Grand Lido Braco and iTravel2000.com. We've also been very fortunate to have many of the local tourist attractions support us by giving trips."

Meanwhile, iTravel's director of business development, Kimberly Morton, who also made the trip, said the connections were looking at making the event an annual affair in order to further enhance summer travel out of Canada to Jamaica.

"I've been to Jamaica a few times and I love it, it's kind of like coming home; we have (some of the winners) who have never been here or have never travelled at all, so this is how they're starting off, experiencing Grand Lido Braco and the hospitality and it's really good," Morton said.