Kingston, Jamaica, Set to Lead Caribbean’s Fight for Better Air Connectivity at 2027 CTO Summit: Everything You Need to Know

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Jamaica, Kingston is gearing up to take center stage in one of the Caribbean’s most pressing conversations — how to fix a regional air connectivity crisis that experts say is quietly holding back the entire tourism economy. The island nation will host the second CTO Air Connectivity Summit on February 23, 2027, in Kingston, bringing together airline executives, tourism ministers, airport operators, and industry stakeholders from across the region for what promises to be a defining moment in Caribbean aviation policy.

The announcement came from Jamaica’s Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, who addressed delegates at the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association’s Caribbean Travel Marketplace in Antigua earlier this week. His words carried weight — not just because Jamaica is stepping up to host, but because the clock is ticking for a region that continues to battle capacity shortfalls, punishing airport taxes, and dangerously fragmented intra-Caribbean air travel infrastructure.

Why Air Connectivity Is the Caribbean’s Most Urgent Crisis

The numbers tell a story that regional leaders can no longer afford to ignore. Despite a striking 23.7% surge in arrivals from South America in 2025 — translating to 2.4 million visits to the Caribbean — major capacity gaps remain across key markets in Europe and South America. According to the CTO Airlift Study delivered by ASM at the first summit, direct services to destinations including Italy, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil remain severely underdeveloped, leaving millions of potential tourists without viable routes into the region.

For small island economies, this is not a minor inconvenience. It is an existential challenge. The inability to secure reliable, affordable, and frequent air access limits trade, stifles economic development, and keeps the Caribbean fragmented at a time when unity is its greatest competitive asset. Regional leaders have repeatedly stressed that without adequate airlift, even the most attractive tourism destinations cannot reach their full potential.

Bermuda Set the Foundation — Jamaica Must Build on It

The first Caribbean Tourism Organization Air Connectivity Summit, held on February 24, 2026, in Hamilton, Bermuda, was widely regarded as a breakthrough moment for the region. It was the first time that such a concentrated gathering of airline executives, tourism directors, airport leaders, and government ministers sat in the same room with a shared mandate: solve the Caribbean’s air access problem before it becomes irreversible.

That summit produced a landmark agreement — a memorandum of understanding between the CTO and Airports Council International – Latin America and the Caribbean — aimed at deepening coordination between the aviation and tourism sectors. It also delivered a clear set of priorities: build credible business cases for airlines, reduce dependence on high taxes and fees, optimize existing airport infrastructure, expand interline agreements, and shift the region’s mindset from competition to collaboration.

The chair of the CTO Airlift Committee, Rosa Harris, who also serves as the Director of Tourism for the Cayman Islands, made it unmistakably clear at the Bermuda summit that air connectivity is not a luxury — it is the economic foundation upon which the entire Caribbean tourism industry rests. Without it, the region’s ability to grow, compete, and sustain livelihoods is fundamentally compromised.

Jamaica’s 2027 Summit Aims to Turn Plans Into Action

The Kingston summit is being positioned as the moment when strategy becomes action. CTO Secretary-General and CEO Dona Regis-Prosper is already preparing to travel to Jamaica to meet with the island’s Director of Tourism, Donovan White, to begin detailed planning for the February 2027 event. The focus will be squarely on accountability — moving beyond frameworks and into concrete outcomes that airlines, airports, and governments can implement.

Key agenda priorities are expected to include the development of stronger airline route business cases, a push for diversified source markets, infrastructure optimization strategies, and expanded interline agreements to improve passenger movement across the region. Minister Bartlett also highlighted that the summit’s timing — just one week after the United Nations-designated Global Tourism Resilience Day on February 17 — is deliberate, reinforcing Jamaica’s long-standing commitment to building a tourism economy that can withstand global disruptions.

Caribbean’s Latin American Opportunity Cannot Wait

Adding urgency to the broader connectivity agenda, Saint Lucia is set to host the inaugural CTO Latin American Market Summit on May 5–6, 2027, with a laser focus on the fast-growing South American traveler segment. Combined with the Kingston summit, these back-to-back regional events in 2027 signal that Jamaica, Kingston, the Caribbean is no longer willing to let geography, taxes, or political fragmentation stand between its islands and the global travelers eager to reach them. The time for incremental progress has passed — and the region’s tourism future may well depend on what happens next.