Tourism Ministry reports record arrivals, earnings from Christmas travel

Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett says Jamaica saw record arrivals and earnings for the period December 21-24, 2018.

Bartlett disclosed in a statement that preliminary data show that airport arrivals were 34,081, an increase of 12.8 per cent over the corresponding period in 2017.

The estimated gross earnings stand at US$51, 240,784, which represents a 17.1 per cent increase over last year.

“This is excellent news and shows the strength of Jamaica’s tourism product. We expected a record season and the numbers highlight this fact. Arrivals from our source markets have been growing apace and we have been strategically engaging new and emerging markets to add to this growth,” said Bartlett.

The tourism minister said that thousands of additional airline seats were negotiated for the 2018-2019 ‘High Season’ in December, out of North America, Canada, the UK and Northern Europe.

In addition, several new flights made their landing at the Sangster International Airport out of Eastern Europe, including Eurowings, Pegas Fly and Nordwind, as well as Canadian airlines Westjet, Sunwing and Swoop. 

While Copa Airlines increased to daily its service between Panama City, its main hub, and Montego Bay.

Latam Airlines Group also announced nonstop direct flights from Peru to Montego Bay beginning July 2019 and Frontier Airlines, one of the newest routes out of the United States, made its inaugural flight on November 17, 2018.

“Airlift remains a key strategy in achieving our growth targets of five million visitors and US$5 billion by 2021 and the numbers show that we are well on our way to meeting these targets.

"By the end of the year it is expected that the country will welcome well over 4.3million visitors and earn US$3.3 billion,” added Bartlett.

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