ADDRESSING the largest gathering of international and local tourism stakeholders and business partners assembled in one place by his Sandals Resorts International (SRI), Executive Chairman Adam Stewart described Jamaica as a rock star brand and one of a kind.

“Jamaica’s brand has never been bigger. Jamaica is a rock star,” Stewart declared to a packed auditorium at the Montego Bay Convention Centre for Wednesday’s historic Sandals Jamaica Love showcase at storied Rosehall, St James.

Explaining the resort’s modus operandi, Stewart said commitment to purpose had been a theme of the business since its inception.

Following are lightly edited excerpts of his address to the gathering:

“My dad went into the business in 1968 at the age of 26 years old. He was dyslexic; his dad was an alcoholic; he grew up absolutely without a silver spoon in his mouth, but he created all of this.

He started as himself, one person, and he believed in whatever he wanted to achieve would happen through all of us. And here we are, all these years later, going on 55 years later, in the same philosophy that anything you want to achieve starts with all of us.

Jamaica is having a moment. Everybody knows that Jamaica hits harder. Bob Marley said, ‘When the music hits, you feel no pain.’ You cannot be in Jamaica and not feel the rhythm of this country. It’s not possible.

That’s why we invited a thousand of you to focus on Jamaica: reggae music; history; culture; athletics; beaches; UNESCO, world heritage sites; mountains; rivers; waterfalls, and I can keep going. There is only one Jamaica, ladies and gentlemen.

And today, in our audience, we have representation from the incredible craft vendors making local crafts. We have representation from the transport sector, our awesome taxi drivers and transport providers. We have representation from customs and immigration that when you arrive make sure you have a warm welcome.

We have representation in the room of our tour providers, our farmers, our fishers, our pastors, and our priests that officiate weddings. The entire tourism ecosystem is all here, and I get the most extraordinary privilege to work with these people, day in day out, to try to make Jamaica a better place, in harmony with the public sector policymakers — all of our leadership here that shape the things that will come for the future. I’m incredibly excited.

My father saw the vision of what Jamaica could become. I recognize his work and that of so many others who came before him. Notably, John Issa, founder of SuperClubs Resorts has just been made a member of The Bahamas Order of Excellence. Respect to you and to everybody who came before and did something amazing.

What do I mean by Jamaica is having a moment? We’re having an extraordinary moment. Unemployment is at 4.5%, the lowest in my lifetime. Our debt to GDP has been cut in half in the last 15 years. Our international reserves are three times higher than it was in my young adult life. I can keep going through the statistics showing what a moment Jamaica is having.

Jamaica’s brand has never been bigger. Jamaica is a rock star, and Sandals is a rock star brand too. It is the biggest, most recognised corporate brand ever to come out of the Caribbean archipelago. It is run and powered by Caribbean nationals from top to bottom. The landscape is changing. Recently Bill Marriott paid us a visit. Imagine Bill Marriott coming to us to have a cheese burger.

People ask me, ‘Adam, what is the one word that describes what you’re doing?’ My answer is that the word is relationship, love of our customers and what we do, and the relationship it stimulates. Love of our travel advisors; love of our airline partners; love of our people, our team members.

It’s the same philosophy of love that was at the beginning in 1968, having gone from being the first employee to the second employee to today where Sandals is employing 20,000 Caribbean nationals across multiple islands; the love of this whole business; the love of getting up in the morning and not feeling like you’ve ever gone to work.

The Caribbean is our sandbox. Our superpower is the belief that the Caribbean is more beautiful, more sexy, has a bigger future than just about anywhere on the planet. Sandals 2.0 is changing the game, and it’s going to continue to change the game in tourism.

What other business makes you happier? What other business stimulates more endorphins or creates more memories? We are prettier than other places in the world. We always love to invite you to Jamaica to remind you just how bada** Jamaica is.

Thank you for taking the time and the effort to come to Jamaica. The word is love when you come to our country to celebrate with us. We are a place of peace, a place of happiness, a place of love for everybody. This is Jamaica. Thank you.”