Sector continues to recover at a faster than anticipated pace

Jamaica’s tourism sector is on track for record arrivals for the month of October, surpassing pre-pandemic levels.

That’s the word from Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, in a speech delivered by Jennifer Griffith, permanent secretary in the ministry, at the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association’s (JHTA) 60th anniversary gala dinner held at the Hilton Rose Hall Resort and Spa in St James on Saturday (October 29).

In the speech, Bartlett disclosed that preliminary figures released by the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) for the first three weeks of October, show stopover visitor arrivals of 123,514. This topped figures for the same period in October 2019 by some 10,026, which saw 113,488 tourists visiting Jamaica.

Stopover arrivals for the same period in October 2020 stood at 27,849, a significant decline because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this increased to 72,203 for the same three-week period in October 2021, when the sector began to show recovery from the pandemic.

The tourism minister is expecting the final figures for October “to be even more impressive when the cruise figures are tallied”. He made the point that, “overall, 2022 is proving to be a record year for arrivals”.

Bartlett added: “Our numbers continue to grow, and October is also shaping up to be another record-breaking month.”

Faster than anticipated recovery continues

Bartlett noted that the sector continues to recover at a faster than anticipated pace which he attributes to the unified approach by players in the industry, who have been putting in considerable work to market the destination.

According to him, “these figures underscore a unified commitment of all stakeholders to putting our best foot forward and innovating in the marketplace to come out better on the other side of two years of disruption”.

Continuing, the minister added: “While due to the pandemic, we had updated our growth target to achieve five million visitors, US$5 billion in earnings and 5,000 new rooms by 2025. Based on our current performance, we are projected to meet these targets ahead of the timeline.”

Bartlett pointed out that, despite the recent successes, even greater unity and collaboration among tourism stakeholders is needed to “innovate and solve complex pandemic related challenges that are still affecting the tourism sector”. These include supply chain disruptions that have not only impacted goods and services, but also human capital.

The minister congratulated the JHTA on its 60th anniversary, noting that the organisation has played a pivotal role in the successful development of Jamaica’s tourism industry over the years.

In the meantime, Keith Duncan, president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) and guest Sseaker at the function, described tourism as an important pillar of Jamaica’s economic development.

He stated that the industry continues to outperform other sectors in the economy and “has been Jamaica’s mainstay over the past three decades, even as our economy faces many challenges and bouts of macro-economic instability”.