KINGSTON, Jamaica - Jamaica earned an estimated US$3.6 billion in revenue from the tourist industry last year as the island welcomed more than 3.3 million visitors, according to latest figures released here.
Photo courtesy of The Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB)The Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) said that visitor arrivals last year were a 117 per cent increase over the 2021 figure and that the revenue received was a 71.4 per cent hike over the previous year and on par with the 2019 earnings.
“The fact that Jamaica continues to outpace visitor arrivals and earnings projections is a testament to the resilience and unwavering appeal of the island’s tourism product as well as the excellent relationships we enjoy with our travel industry partners,” said Tourism Minister, . Edmund Bartlett.
“Monthly stopover arrivals began to surpass 2019 figures as of June 2022 and it is expected that 2023 will show a full recovery in our annual figures, ahead of previous estimates that full recovery would occur in 2024.
“Before even completing the first six months of this year, we have already received two million visitors from our stopover and cruise arrivals. This translates into record earnings of two billion UIS dollars, a whopping 18 per cent above the 2019 earnings for the same time period,” Barnett said, adding “it should be no surprise then that Jamaica is bracing for the best summer tourist season ever”.
The United States remains Jamaica’s top source market for visitor arrivals, representing approximately 75 per cent of the island’s total arrivals.
Tourism authorities are expecting that this year Jamaica will show a full recovery in its annual figures with projections of 3.9 million visitors and foreign exchange earnings of US$4.3 billion, ahead of previous estimates for full recovery in 2024.
They said for this summer period, bookings to Jamaica show a 33 per cent increase over the same period in 2019 per ForwardKeys Air Ticket Data as of April 5, putting the destination on track for a record-breaking summer season.
For the upcoming summer travel season, the US represents 1.2 million of the 1.4 million airline seats that have been secured for the period, representing a 16 per cent increase over the island’s previous best, recorded in 2019.
“2022 turned out to be quite a successful year for us in terms of recovering arrivals and earnings, due in part to our integrated marketing push throughout the U.S.,” said Donovan White, JTB’s Director of Tourism.
“With 2023 already posting robust numbers, we are very optimistic about the outlook for growth this year and beyond,” he added.
