KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says arrival figures for July show that an estimated 250,584 visitors arrived on the island, the highest number the country has ever seen for the summer months.
On Saturday, Bartlett said the island has also welcomed, up to July 31, nearly two million visitors since the beginning of the year, and has earned over US$2 billion.
“Stopover arrivals have increased phenomenally over the period,” Bartlett said in a statement from the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB). “However, what is even more impressive is the progress we have made over the past five years. In 2015 to 2016, we increased arrivals by 29,022,” he added. “For 2016 to 2017, we increased by 75, 628.”
During the period 2017 to 2018, Bartlett said tourist arrivals increased by 73, 941.
“And this year so far, we have increased by 132, 980, almost doubling the performance from last year,” he said.
The tourism minister noted that this performance places Jamaica in “a good place with the industry globally and outpaces the Ministry’s projections.”
“This, indeed, is phenomenal, and I really want to congratulate the industry’s workers, partners, stakeholders, my ministerial colleagues and all others who have worked so hard to enable tourism to achieve this level of improvement,” he said.
“I am satisfied that the earnings, as projected, is also at a high,” he added. We’re 8.4 percent over last year.”
