By Andrew Green, Staff Reporter
JAMAICA HAD the highest number of stopover tourist arrivals in its history during the month of July, said Director of Tourism Paul Pennicook.
The country had 144,039 arrivals in July, Mr. Pennicook said. This was a 4.6 per cent increase over the 2002 arrivals level for August, and tops the previous record monthly arrivals level of 143,282 in March of 2001.
"Jamaica is continuing the growth trend which began during the latter half of 2002," Mr. Pennicook said. The Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) boss was speaking yesterday at a Rotary Club of St. Andrew luncheon at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel. The JTB defines a stopover tourist as a visitor who spends at least 24 hours in the country.
Jamaica had a 6.7 per cent increase in stopovers during the second half of last year, Mr. Pennicook said. And for the first half of the current year, there was a 7 per cent increase in stopovers, compared with the similar period for 2002.
"Preliminary numbers for the first two weeks of August show an increase of 8.1 per cent over 2002," he said. This amounted to a 5 per cent over the first two weeks of August 2000, which was overall a record year in tourist arrivals.
STRONGER GROWTH
"Cruise passenger arrivals showed an even stronger growth of 39 per cent for the first six months of this year," he said. Gross visitor expenditure for the first half of this year is estimated at US$643 million, an increase of 10 per cent over last year.
The arrivals growth was based on an increase in airlift and advertising, along with strong co-operation within the industry, Mr. Pennicook said
As a whole, the Caribbean is showing clear signs of a rebound, he said. But this is not shared evenly.
While Jamaica showed a 7 per cent increase from January to June of this year, stopover growth in Barbados amounted to 10.3 per cent. St. Lucia also grew by 4.7 per cent and the Bahamas by 1.3 per cent.
But The Cayman Islands suffered an arrivals decline of 4.5 per cent from January to May. Bermuda had a decline of 9.8 per cent from January to March.
Data now available shows Cuba topping the regional growth tables with an 18.7 per cent growth for the January to March period.
"The first World Tourism Barometer, issued by the World Trade Organisation, shows steadily improving conditions for international tourism," he said. "Although the world economy is still rather weak, a change for the better is expected to take place in the second half of 2003, according to the WTO."
