Jamaica records big tourism boost; courting North American while looking at LATAM market

Jamaica’s tourism sector increase more than seven per cent for the three-month period from July to September when compared with the same period for the previous year.

Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, attributes the to the collective hard work of tourism stakeholders to build a world class tourism product, and the sustained marketing efforts of the Jamaica Tourist Board in the international markets.

“Jamaica’s tourism is among the best in the world, which is why we continue to see a growing number of visitors coming to our shores despite the still difficult global economic climate,” he said Friday.

Statistics from the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) show that for July, August and September 642,182 visitors arrived in the island, compared with 596,438 for the same three-month period in 2009. It's the largest growth in visitor arrivals for any one period since the start of the year.

The country earned US$1.418 billion from stop over and cruise arrivals from January to August, a 2.2 per cent increase over the same period last year.

Bartlett is focusing on non traditional markets to sell Jamaica. These include Argentina, Brazil and Columbia. The JTB will soon be rolling out a marketing and promotion blitz for the South American region.

The focus is also on increasing arrivals by air with more than 671,000 airline seats available for the United States and 227,479 seats for Canada, Jamaica’s main markets.