Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett says he is targeting 250,000 tourists from Latin America over the next five years to re-engage the tourist market in the region.

Bartlett is in Latin America with a team of senior tourism representatives as part of a high-level strategic re-engagement of tourism partners in the region.

He shared that the region is one of the largest source markets for Jamaica, with over 600 million visitors, and now that the island has fully recovered from the effects of the pandemic, the tourism ministry is building strategies to attract visitors to Jamaica.

Copa Airlines remains the strongest airline partner, with an increased frequency of flights weekly to Montego Bay and Kingston, to provide five flights weekly by the first quarter of 2024.

“Now is the time for Jamaica, a sought-after destination, to leverage this very lucrative market as part of our drive to welcome five million visitors by 2025. With 20,000 new rooms coming on stream in Jamaica, we will need to engage our airline partners for more airlift our tour operators to create more investment to support this drive,” said Bartlett.

In 2019, Jamaica saw 38,000 visitors from the Latin Americas, a number that would increase in 2020. However, when disaster struck and borders were shut, that number was severely affected. In 2022, the island recovered, welcoming 22,000 visitors from the region.

“The signs of interest for travel from Latin America to Jamaica are strong, and we are ready to showcase our authentic culture and unique offerings,” said Jamaica’s Director of Tourism Donovan White. “In fact, a marketing survey has shown a 30 million demand search for Jamaica from this region.”