Jamaica on track to earn US$5 billion from tourism by 2025
As the tourism sector recovers after the COVID-19 pandemic and the Caribbean leading the way as the principal segment of global recovery in the world, Jamaica is well on the way to achieving an ambitious target set before the deadly infectious disease shut the world down three years ago.
“The plan before COVID was to get five million visitors in five years and earn US$5 billion by 2025,” Jamaica’s Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett said at the 41st annual Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA) Travel Marketplace in Barbados. “Notwithstanding the pandemic, we are still on track for 5x5x5.”
Edmund Bartlett and Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley embrace during the Caribbean Travel Forum in Barbados (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Last year, Jamaica welcomed 2,487,386 stopovers that is a 69.2 per cent increase from 2021.
“We really hit our strides in August with four of the last five months exceeding 2019 pre-pandemic numbers,” said Bartlett. “When we factor in the cruise numbers in 2022, we saw well over three million visitors for the year which is a tremendous achievement.”
In January 2023, there was an increase of 74.2 per cent in stopovers compared to the same month in 2022.
This year, Jamaica expects to attract about 3.8 million visitors and grow to more than US$5 million by 2025.
To achieve the targets, more flights are being added to support the tourism sector which is the main economic driver for many countries, contributing substantially to income generation, employment and foreign exchange earnings.
Last February, Frontier Airlines started non-stop thrice-weekly services from Denver, St. Louis and Chicago Midway to Montego Bay. The airline will also begin a direct service from Dallas to Montego Bay in early June.
In October, Southwest is expected to start a new service from Kansas City.
Copa Airlines is flying four times weekly to Kingston and Montego Bay and there is a non-stop charter operating between Fort Lauderdale to Ian Fleming International Airport in Ocho Rios.
“To attract new visitors to Jamaica, we are strategically building our new gateways with strong potential for growth,” Bartlett said. “These include new target markets – Eastern Europe, Asia/Pacific, India, Japan, the Middle East & North Africa region and West Africa. Once we get the visitors here, they need to understand that we have outstanding hotels, that we have the capacity and that we are investing to support that.”
The Caribbean’s longest serving Tourism Minister said 8,000 new rooms are slated for construction in the next two to five years.
“In 2023-24, we expect to have at least 3,000 of those rooms ready for sale,” Bartlett pointed out. “For the next five to 10 years, multiple investment projects will see an additional 15,000 to 20,000 new rooms at a value of some US$4 to $5 billion for Jamaica’s direct foreign investment.”
The investment, he said, is not limited to hotels.
“There is going to be significant expansion and modernization at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay,” Bartlett said. “This will include the expansion of the immigration hall, upgrading the departure lounge and redesigned retail space.”
Angella Bennett (l), the Jamaica Tourist Board Regional Director in Canada, is busy selling Jamaica at the CHTA Travel Marketplace in Barbados (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
Noting that Jamaica has evolved beyond sun, sea and sand, he said visitors are seeking to forge deeper bonds and gain more from their travel experience.
“Consumers are seeking authentic and memorable experiences where they can connect in meaningful ways with a destination and its people,” Bartlett said. “In Jamaica, we have created a strategy that emphasizes the creation of more sustainable tourism products through diversification and the development of specific key niches that showcase our unique natural and cultural heritage.
“While our recovery has been strong and continues its upward trajectory, we know there are still challenges. Inflation in the United States, which is our number one source market, is a concern as are other disruptions like the war in Ukraine and its impact on Eastern Europe and supply chain disruptions. However, we are excited about the prospects of overcoming those challenges.”
The 2024 CHTA Travel Marketplace will take place in Montego Bay next May.
Last held on Jamaica’s north coast in 2019, Bartlett promised it will be bigger and better.
“As a signature statement of recovery, Jamaica is going to host one of the most exciting CHTA’s that you would have ever hoped to have,” he said. “It will be a marketplace with a difference. The first day, there will be a heavy emphasis on thought leadership activities. Sustainability and resilience are the two touch words that define the way forward, not just for tourism, but the world. We will be bringing in mega players from across the world to participate.”
Bartlett co-founded the Global Tourism Resilience & Crisis Management Centre (GTRCMC) at the University of the West Indies Mona Campus.
