Jamaica reports record Q1 for UK visitors

Speaking at the tourist board’s annual Jamaica Travel Market trade event last week, UK regional director Elizabeth Fox reported more than 55,000 Brits had travelled to the Caribbean nation during Q1.

Fox said Jamaica expected to return to pre-pandemic visitor levels this year, having welcomed 225,000 UK visitors in 2019.

Her words echoed those of Jamaica’s tourism minister Edmund Bartlett speaking to TTG in late April, who said he believed the country’s tourism sector would be "fully recovered and growing" from the impacts of the Covid pandemic by early 2023.

Fox said: "Jamaica Travel Market has been particularly successful this year, and we are seeing a huge resurgence of interest for Jamaica.

"Tour operators report that bookings to Jamaica so far continue to be very strong. In the first quarter of 2022 we’ve beaten all previous arrival records for UK visitors."

Jamaica Travel Market connects Jamaican hotels and attractions with UK buyers, with the event attended by more than 20 suppliers and 30 buyers. This year’s event was held at Sopwell House in St Albans on 14 and 15 June.