Edmund Bartlett, Minister of Tourism, has said that as at June, Jamaica has exceeded over US$2 billion in earnings in the sector for 2023.

He was speaking during the closing of the 2023/24 Sectoral Debate today (June 20) in the House of Representatives.

“This period of what we call the Summer in tourism 2023 will become the most successful Summer in the history of tourism in Jamaica. Already even before the completion of the sixth month of this year, we have brought in two million visitors to Jamaica and have gone over US$2 billion for the country,” the Minister said.

“This is a whopping 18 per cent increase over 2019 earnings for the same period. I’m sure it will be no surprise then that Jamaica is bracing for the best ever Summer season. The fact has been reinforced by the engagements which I led into the New York area, the tri-state area, Miami, and Atlanta in the last few days,” he added.

Bartlett went on to state that the Ministry, “responded to certain headwinds that we thought we were experiencing. We were able to head it off.”

“[The Ministry] is able to report that [of the many seats] coming into the country for the Summer season, 1.2 million will be coming from the United States of America,” he said.

Send feedback to [email protected]