Caribbean Island nation Jamaica is currently experiencing one of the fastest travel and tourism recoveries in the world and the country will this month start receiving at least 16 flights per week from the United Kingdom, its biggest market, bringing the island back to nearly 100 pc airline seat capacity.

Tom Starr, a vice-president, and Alex Rayner a director of Amadeus, a European travel bookings company, told the recently-concluded World Travel Mart in London say that the searches and demand for Jamaica, one of the best known islands in the Caribbean Sea, were running 50 pc ahead of the global average and travel agents led bookings and searches doubling the global average.

Amadeus serves as a backbone and powers the global travel industry including airlines, airports, hotels and railways, search engines, travel agencies and tour operations.

“Jamaica has been doing the right things in the marketplace and the airlines and tour partners are responding in confidence. We also note that average room night stays are longer, and airlines are putting on more capacity to meet the demand. This is very good news for Jamaica, and in many places the news is just not good,” said Rayner.

The Caribbean nation had sent a high-level delegation, led by Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett, to the World Travel Market.

“The ministry and the Jamaican Tourism Board JTB have been working around the clock in line with Minister Bartlett’s aggressive push to bring back our numbers and the tourism industry back on track in record time. We have maintained, even in the down times, continuous and relentless contact with our many partners to ensure that we can turn things around as quickly as possible. The work is arduous but absolutely needed and we are seeing the fruits. Nonetheless, we remain cautiously optimistic and won’t take our eye off the ball,” Donovan White, Director of Tourism of Jamaica, said on the occasion.

Jamaica will this month start receiving at least 16 flights per week from the United Kingdom, bringing the island back to approximately 100 pc airline seat capacity as the nation’s tourism numbers rebound.

Bartlett also led engagements and interactions at the World Expo 2020 Dubai, which will result in the opening up of tourism and investment opportunities for Jamaica.