Jamaica reportedly earned some USD $300 million from tourist arrivals during the month of December.
According to reports, the island saw an estimated 250,000 visitors, the majority of whom were members of the Jamaican diaspora.
Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett had previously predicted that the 2023/24 winter tourist season would be the largest in the nation’s history, with over one million stopover visitors expected. A record 1.05 million airline seats were secured from nearly six thousand flights coming into Jamaica out of the United States.
The tourism winter season runs from mid-December until mid-April.
“This achievement underscores the unwavering confidence and support of tourists worldwide, as they continue to choose Jamaica as their preferred holiday destination,” the Minister stated.
“Remember the cruise numbers are not included here. We have already secured 1.5 million seats across the markets of the world and assuming a very low 75 percent load factor from the airlines coming in, we will be more than one million stopover arrivals for the season,” he added.
Bartlett also expressed gratitude to travelers for their trust in the destination.
He also disclosed that for the period, of January to November 29, 2023, preliminary figures indicate that “some 2.5 million stopover visitors have graced our shores, accounting for an 18 percent increase over the same period in 2022 and a 10 percent increase over the same period in pre-pandemic 2019.
“If we continue on this impressive growth trajectory, we will be on track to meet our new projections of 4 million visitors and foreign exchange earnings of US$4.1 billion by year-end,” asserted Minister Bartlett.
