Minister of Tourism and Entertainment, Dr Wykeham McNeill, returned to Jamaica from Beijing, China, on Sunday with high praises for the nation's athletes whose exceptional performance at the 2015 IAAF World Championships not only earned Jamaica 12 medals, but also had a considerable and positive impact on Brand Jamaica.

"The outstanding performance of our athletes in Beijing has had a tremendous effect on Brand Jamaica. The eyes of the world were on our athletes, especially Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and, as a result, there was a greater awareness about Jamaica. The promotional space which we established dubbed Jamaica House Beijing provided the opportunity to leverage the popularity of Jamaica's athletes to market our destination," said McNeill.

McNeill and Director of Tourism, Paul Pennicook, were in Beijing for five days to participate in activities aimed at marketing destination Jamaica, during the IAAF World Championships, which ended yesterday. While in Beijing, McNeill and Pennicook met with leading travel and tourism stakeholders to explore opportunities to benefit the island's tourism sector, and increase visitor arrivals from Asia, including representatives from Air China, Hainan Airlines, China Travel Service, Caissa and American Airlines.