Jamaica earned US$ 1.7 billion from tourism in the first quarter of the year
Vanassa McKenzie / Our Today
Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says Jamaica has earned some US$1.27 billion in tourism earnings within the first quarter of the year.
Bartlett, who made the revelation while speaking at a post-Cabinet press briefing this morning, May 1, said the country has been recovering well from the COVID-19 pandemic and has welcomed approximately 1.2 million visitors to the island so far.
“The increases therefore reflect the completion of the tourism recovery programme for the country as of COVID-19 reflections. It would be recalled that the industry literally moved from zero on the 20th of March,” he said.
“The recovery process has been swift and strong and we are very pleased with the performance of the partners in the industry who have all worked assiduously to enable this swift and strong recovery. But, certainly, it is the Government and the Cabinet and the overall macro planning which was spearheaded by our prime minister that enabled this level of recovery to happen. That has put Jamaica in a very preferred position in global tourism space where we are the only country in the region that has fully recovered and thriving,” the minister added.
For the 2023/2024 fiscal year, Jamaica had gross earnings of US$4.38 billion, which is a 9.6 per cent increase over the previous year.
There were some 2.9 million stopover arrivals to the island for the period, which is a 9.4 per cent increase over the year prior. the country also welcomed 1.34 million cruise visitors.
“The performance in terms of tourism arrival has been half of the story. The recovery has been stronger with the workers of the industry because we lost just about 20 per cent of our workers due to COVID in recovery, but what has happened since is that we are now short of workers, not because of loss but because of the growth and we are back to 175,000 workers in the industry — direct and indirect, and induced we are back to 350,000,” Bartlett shared.
He further noted that investors continue to show interest in tourism in Jamaica.
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