The Hon. Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, announced at a destination press briefing at the 41st Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA) Caribbean Travel Marketplace in Barbados that Jamaica has welcomed more than one million visitors so far in 2023, surpassing this milestone roughly one month earlier than in 2022.
He provided the assembled media with updates on Jamaica’s brisk tourist arrivals, investments, and efforts to strengthen the sector both locally and globally.
“From January through December 2022 Jamaica welcomed 2,478,386 stopover arrivals, a 69.2% increase over 2021 and nearly a full recovery to 2019 highs,” stated Minister Bartlett. “As of May 10, we had welcomed more over a million visitors this year, bringing our destination on line with records set in 2019. This is a wonderful accomplishment as we have witnessed consistent growth in our visitor numbers and ongoing investment in the tourist industry. We anticipate attracting more than 3.8 million tourists in 2023 and increasing to more than 5 million visitors in 2025, according to our projections for the years 2023 through 2025.
To maintain this growth’s upward trend, Minister Bartlett added, “This year, we’re adding additional flights from Chicago Midway, Denver, St. Louis, Dallas, Kansas City, and London Gatwick. Additionally, during the next two to five years, we want to build about 8,000 new hotel rooms and extend and modernise Sangster International Airport.
Minister Bartlett said, “Furthermore, Jamaica has adopted the Blue Ocean Strategy to produce a more sustainable, varied tourism product. Along with the United Nations, we created Global Tourism Resilience Day, which will occur every year on February 17, with the intention of raising awareness of the need for tourism to recover quickly and take preventative measures against potential disruptions.
Donovan White, Director of tourist, Jamaica Tourist Board, noted that “the fact that Jamaica’s tourism arrivals continue to rise is a clear testament to the success of our internal strategies, destination marketing initiatives, and relationships with key travel partners on island and worldwide.” “We are extremely grateful to everyone who has helped Jamaica succeed in expanding its tourism industry to levels that meet and will soon surpass 2019 record levels.”
Minister Bartlett further mentioned that Jamaica is using important tourism pillars that highlight the area’s distinct culture and tradition while also catering to the needs of modern tourists who want more from their trips than just sun, sea, and sand. He also emphasised the necessity for careful management of the tourist sector, including the development of resilience so that it can continuously adjust to problems as they emerge and the implementation of strategies to safeguard it against any future shocks.
Source: breakingtravelnews