Jamaica is among several Caribbean nations to report strong post-pandemic visitor arrivals
Jamaican Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says the country’s record-breaking growth in number of tourists has continued in the third quarter of 2023 as the Caribbean nation received 682,586 overnight, land-based visitors during the period, a 5.5 pc year-over-year increase.
“The economic performance figures for the third quarter of the year show that Jamaica continues to shine as a premier destination, with significantly increasing stopover arrivals and earnings,” says Bartlett.
Edmund Bartlett
Jamaica is among several Caribbean nations to report strong post-pandemic visitor arrivals. The country welcomed its two millionth visitor in June, reflecting a nine percent increase in land-based and cruise ship arrivals compared with June 2019. Bartlett emphasises that the island will host 3.9 million visitors in 2023.
Bartlett says the period covering July 1 to September 30, 2023, marks the 10th consecutive quarter since the Covid-19 pandemic that Jamaica has shown significant growth.
‘‘Jamaica’s tourism earnings continued an upward trend during the third quarter, totalling roughly USD 1 billion, representing a substantial 7.3 pc increase over the same period in 2022,” adds Bartlett.
The Minister says one of the key markets propelling Jamaica Tourism ahead was the rebound in travellers from the United Kingdom. “The UK market has continued to outperform other markets outside of the United States. UK traveller growth continues to outpace the other non-American markets, and Jamaica now is the number one destination in the Caribbean for UK visitors,” says Bartlett.
Canada will also be a key visitor source going forward, says the Minister. “We are excited about Canada and the prospects for improved growth. I expect Canada to generate 500,000 visitors for Jamaica by 2025. Visitor growth from Canada will be driven by some new demographics emerging from the Asian-Canadian and luxury markets,” Bartlett says.
