Jamaica fixes sights on growing arrivals to five million by 2025
Rob GillJamaica’s tourism chief is hopeful of carrying over the momentum from its latest marketing push into a full recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, with a view to achieving five million annual arrivals in 2025.
The Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) brought its worldwide marketing campaign, Come Back, to WTM London this week, which it says contributed to stopover visitor numbers exceeding 2019 levels during each of the first eight months of the year.
The island has also enjoyed record earnings from tourism, which rose to $2 billion during the first half of 2023 – up 18% compared with the same period in 2019. JTB director of tourism Donovan White said: “We are swiftly sailing out of the recovery phase and into an even brighter future for Jamaica.
“We are incredibly proud to see the relentless efforts and unwavering commitment of our remarkable tourism team and our valued stakeholders come to fruition.”
White’s confidence comes off the back of a record-breaking year for British arrivals into Jamaica, with the island firmly establishing itself as the top Caribbean destination for UK holidaymakers.
This positive trend should be further strengthened with Norse Atlantic Airways due to launch a new Gatwick-Montego Bay route in December, although the carrier has dropped plans for a separate service between London and Kingston.
Growth should also be driven by a multitude of new hotel openings, which will add another 8,500 rooms by 2025. Brands due to unveil properties include Hard Rock Hotel, Riu, Dreams, Secrets, Planet Hollywood, Viva Wyndham, Unico and Princess.
For the whole of 2023, Jamaica is expected to welcome 3.88 million visitors, including 2.74 million stopover guests and another 1.13 million passengers arriving on cruise ships.
The destination hopes to grow this to around 4.59 million arrivals next year and then achieve the five million milestone in 2025. As a comparison, the island welcomed 4.3 million tourists in 2019.
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