United Kingdom: British Airways Crew Handcuff Passenger To Seat, Order Him To Defecate On His Seat

A passenger suffering from cancer and diabetes claims his hands and feet were tied by six British Airways crew who “treated him like a slave” after he fell ill in midair and tried to sit in first class.

Kwame Bantu, 65, claims he was handcuffed to the seat with his legs bound together as it was claimed the crew banned him from using the toilet and ordered him to defecate in his seat.

Mr Bantu was heading to see family in Jamaica when he says he began to feel dizzy and saw his leg swelling an hour after taking off from Gatwick.

He tried to move to a more comfortable first class seat so he could stretch his legs but says he was “ambushed” by stewards who dragged him back to his seat in economy and strapped him down by the neck and shoulders.

He and another passenger who tried to stand up for him were reportedly thrown off the BA jet after the captain diverted to a Portuguese air force base on the Atlantic island Terceira yesterday.

Mr Bantu, from London, said, they ambushed me. I was completely humiliated, my human rights had been taken away from me.

They refused to listen about my medical illness and what I was going through. I was treated like a slave.

It’s when some of the other passengers expressed their concern for me that they stopped the plane and landed to kick us out.

Joy Stoney, 40, a businesswoman from Yorkshire who did not know Mr Bantu, says cabin crew handcuffed the OAP and told him to “defecate in his seat, when he said he needed to go to toilet.

She said: He was holding his crotch area for a while and it was horrible to see. I called the steward manager to come see me and told her I would escort him to the toilet myself.

They said, He needs to defecate himself in the chair, and I think that is utterly inhumane.”

Mr Bantu and Ms Stoney say they were stranded on the island without their luggage and have had no help from the British consulate.

Jo Henry, from London, said British Airways was “heavy handed” in the way they dealt with the elderly passenger.

She said: They dealt with the situation really badly they were totally heavy handed.

There were six or seven police officers who came on-board when we landed in Portugal,there was no need for that.

New mother Jo, who was taking her eight-month-old baby on her first flight, slammed the airline for the way they treated the rest of the passengers once on the ground.

She said: There was no level of care from the BA staff.

When we landed in Portugal we had to go to a waiting room by ourselves while the cabin crew stayed on the plane.”

A spokesman for the Portuguese police on the island of Terceira said the two people kicked off the flight had not been arrested and the matter was closed as far as they were concerned.

Earlier reports had claimed a rowdy couple who were demanding a free upgrade had forced the plane to divert.

A Portuguese air force spokesman said: “The pilot decided to land in Lajes in the island of Terceira because of a dispute between cabin crew and a couple who wanted to be transferred from economy class to first class.

“The British couple will remain in Terceira and will be questioned by police.”

He said the couple had filmed the spat on a mobile phone.

The row erupted on flight BA2263 after it left London Gatwick Airport for Jamaican capital Kingston on Wednesday, officials confirmed.

According to Flight Tracker, the plane left Gatwick at 11.36am before diverting to Terceira at 3pm to offload the two passengers.

The aircraft then left the Portuguese island at 7.15pm and returned to London without ever completing its route to Jamaica.

A spokesman for British Airways said: Caring for our customers is our highest priority and we are investigating the circumstances surrounding this incident.

The flight returned to Gatwick and customers were taken to hotels.

Meanwhile, a Delta Air Lines passenger was kicked off a flight because he was desperate for the loo after waiting half an hour for takeoff.

Video shows Kima Hamilton’s “outrageous” clash with cabin crew, which ended with everyone on board being forced to leave the plane and a further two-hour delay.

Earlier this month, United Airlines workers dragged a bloodied doctor off an overbooked jet to make way for airline staff.

It got worse for the airline yesterday when it emerged a celebrity’s prized giant rabbit died on board on a flight from the UK.

On Friday an American Airlines flight attendant was caught on camera “whacking” a mum of twins with a pushchair and challenging another passenger to hit him.

JAMAICA: Jamaica To Start Cruise Ship Routes To Cuba

Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett said he has been holding discussions to develop new cruise ship routes between Cuba and Kingston.

Bartlett told the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) council meeting on Tuesday that he was not worried that the opening up of Cuba would affect Jamaica's tourism.

"For me its an opportunity that can broaden market size," he said.

He said that the cruise shipping infrastructure in Kingston will have to be developed to lure tourists to the city.

The Government plans on setting up the Norman Manley International Airport in a way that would give confluence for cruise, sea and air activity, the minister added.

Meanwhile, Barlett told the councillors that Hope Zoo and Hope Gardens in the municipality are to be developed as major tourist attractions.

CANADA: Ontario Must Attract More International International Tourists

A report from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce released on Thursday said that while the fortunes of the province's tourism operators are improving, Ontario still must attract more international visitors.

The 40-page report, titled Closing the Tourism Gap, Creating a Long-Term Advantage for Ontario, found tourism businesses and other members of the industry support more than 360,000 jobs and generate more than $25 billion in gross domestic product.

Also, the report ranked southeastern Ontario eighth in percentage of total employment at 4.6 per cent. Algonquin Park, Almaguin Highlands, Muskoka and Parry Sound come in first at 15.3 per cent. The Niagara region comes in at 11.8 per cent, second in the province.

Tourism brings in 2.4 per cent of total municipal revenues in southeastern Ontario, ranking the area 10th out of 15 tourism regions in the province.

The region not only includes the Kingston area, but goes from about Prince Edward County along the Highway 401 corridor east to the Quebec border.

Martin Sherris, CEO of the Greater Kingston Chamber of Commerce, said local tourism organizations are ahead of the curve.

"They do very, very well in tourism here in Kingston," Sherris said Thursday.

Locally, Sherris said, tourism is a $700 million-per-year business, but to stay successful, Kingston and other tourism hot spots in the province need more support from the provincial government.

Sherris said that between 2006 and 2012, Ontario lagged significantly behind the curve of international tourism, and while things are looking up, Sherris wants to see positive numbers maintained well into the future.

"Everybody is doing better now and we're doing phenomenal in Kingston, but what we're looking at here is beyond the next couple of years. We need a cohesive branding strategy that allows Ontario, and specifically Kingston, to grow and take advantage of international visitors in a big way."

Sherris believes the government can facilitate a way all 15 tourism regions in the province work together for a provincewide tourism strategy, "so that Kingston can market Kingston to the world, but marketing the province itself will have a bigger impact globally."

He also said the government can help Kingston tourism by making it easier for local operators to apply for funding for tourism initiatives and improvements.

"We need the Ontario government to be more open to allowing these industries to be innovative and entrepreneurial, reduce the regulatory burden and cost of marketing themselves."

Allan O'Dette, president and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, said in the report that 2016 has been a good year so far for tourism in Canada, with overnight visits up 10 per cent over 2015.

"While this growth is encouraging, it should also be cause for reflection. Until recently, our province was experiencing relatively little growth in the number of visitors each year, and current visitation numbers remain below historical levels," he wrote. "Meanwhile, the number of visitors internationally has increased steadily, resulting in a widening tourism gap between our province and international tourism trends."

O'Dette agrees that the government needs to active steps to ensure that this year's boost in tourism is sustained over the long term.

"To achieve real growth in our tourism industry, we must tap into growth in the international tourism markets," he said.

JAMAICA: Jamaicans Will Benefit From Tourism Boom

Minister of Tourism, Hon. Dr. Wykeham McNeill, said the Government will be ensuring that the levels of growth being experienced in tourism trickles down to other sectors of the economy, and benefits the Jamaican people.

“Our mission and role, above all else, is to see that this growth and optimism in our tourism sector have a meaningful impact on the economy and people of Jamaica,” Dr. McNeill said.

“We need to develop our linkages so that other sectors including agriculture, transport, among others, benefit from it,” he added.

The Minister was addressing a recent JIS Think Tank, where he cited the “unprecedented levels” of investment in the upgrading and development of hotel properties.

“If you travel across the north coast, the Bahia Principe has almost completed expansion; The Royalton in Trelawny is putting in another 200 rooms; the Riu is constructing another 450 rooms, plus an additional 50 rooms in their Montego Bay Palace Hotel,” he pointed out.

He also mentioned the recently opened Sensatori, while the Grand Lido in Negril is to be rebuilt. In addition, the operators of the Secrets Hotel in Montego Bay are building another property called ‘Breathless’.

Dr. McNeill cited upgrades done in 2014 at the Riu Palace, Hyatt (formerly Ritz- Carlton), and the Royalton, while Riu Negril and the Beaches Negril undertook refurbishing works this year.

The Moon Palace Ocho Rios as well as the Courtyard Marriott in Kingston, opened their doors earlier this month, while Mellier Braco is expected to come on stream in early 2016.

“These works are lifting the level of what Jamaica has to offer,” he noted.

The Minister said that the long-term outlook for the industry is very positive, as there are major investments expected.

Among these is the addition of 4,000 rooms by the Karisma Group; 2,500 by China Harbour, as well as 800 rooms in Trelawny by the Ocean by H10 Hotels group.

JAMAICA: Gov't Working To Diversify Tourism Sector

Portia Simpson addressing the 14th Sandals Resorts International Travel Awards at Sandals Whitehouse Resort in Westmoreland

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller says the government will be working with a number of public-private partners for the long term expansion, development and diversification of the tourism industry.

To this end, Simpson Miller said the Tourism Enhancement Fund, (TEF) has already made major investments in the development of attractions and other tourism-related facilities.

Addressing the 14th annual Sandals Resorts International Star Awards at Sandals Whitehouse Resort in Westmoreland on Saturday, Simpson Miller said under this new thrust to improve the tourism product, the capital city of Kingston will receive major focus.

“Kingston is being repositioned as a creative city, offering great insights into our unique Jamaican culture. Jamaica’s Blue and John Crown Mountain National Park was this year named a world heritage site,” she said.

She added that attention will also be paid to the development of other sites across the island-especially in St Ann, Falmouth and Port Royal.

“We are also developing other outstanding heritage sites. These include Seville (St Ann) where evidence of the British, Spanish and the Taino civilizations are preserved… Falmouth-the most intact example of a Georgian town in the Caribbean and Port Royal with its sunken city and the memory of Pirates and the Caribbean rum and sugar trade,” Simpson Miller said.

The prime minister further noted that the parish of Westmoreland where Sandals Whitehouse Resort is located, has its fair share of heritage sites and is urging the management of the resort to immediately move to include cultural tourism in its business mix.

JAMAICA: US$500-m Tourism Investment - 3,000 New Hotel Rooms Under Construction,

JUST under 3,000 new hotel rooms are now being constructed in Jamaica in what Tourism Minister Dr Wykeham McNeill described as "a massive wave" of investment in the sector valued at US$500 million.

"This investment in new rooms is larger than any other in the history of the industry," McNeill told senior journalists at his New Kingston office yesterday.

The 2,694 rooms are split between new properties and expansion on existing hotels in Negril, Montego Bay, Trelawny, St Ann, and Kingston.

McNeill said they will account for approximately 7,000 jobs in the construction phase, and between 4,000 and 5,000 permanent positions when the hotels are fully operational.

He attributed the investments to strong partnerships created over the past three years, particularly in the United States, and with the world's largest tour operator, TUI Group.

"What you have happening is people doing business in Jamaica being successful and investing in a real way," McNeill said.

Jamaica Tourist Board Chairman Dennis Morrison said the investments were also influenced by amendments to the Hotel Incentives Act which now grant tax breaks to hoteliers for refurbishing.

"The tax system that has been put in place meets a demand that has been made for many years of government," Morrison said.

Previously, the Act provided a 10-year relief from general consumption tax, income tax, and import duty to new hotels, existing hotels adding a minimum of 10 rooms or 30 per cent of the existing number of rooms (whichever is greater), and existing hotels that have done or intend to do substantial structural alteration.

In addition, approved convention hotels with 350 or more bedrooms are entitled to income tax and import duty relief ranging from 11 to 15 years.

"The new regime allows the operator to renew and refresh his property every three or five years, and they will tell you that is the biggest thing, because what you have done is take the taxes off their operating expenses," Morrison said.

McNeill pointed out that another 2,500 rooms are to be built by Chinese investors, and the planned casino resort on the North Coast will add more rooms to the product.

"What you're seeing is a massive wave," he said.

Just over a decade ago, Spanish investors figured prominently on a list of 15 tourism projects which, at the time, was the largest combined investment in the sector with capital of US$400 million and employment capacity of 4,700 jobs.