Jamaica sees surge in visitor arrivals

According to government released data, visitors from the United States still comprise the vast majority of stopover arrivals. The month of June saw 124,709 stopover arrivals, representing an increase of 20 percent. Visitors from Canada rose by 33.3 percent (that is 7,877 stopover arrivals).

A little over 19,000 stopover arrivals was from Europe representing an 11 percent increase.

These figures are very encouraging for the tourism sector and the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) puts the upsurge in visitors to the island down to the added airlift from the United States. Seventy percent of Jamaica’s visitors come from the United States.

Between May and December of this year, 200,000 people are expected to fly into Jamaica.

Many of the country’s major hotels are reporting high occupancies. Speaking with Caribbean Business Report, Chairman of Sandals and Beaches Resorts Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart said, “Air Jamaica has developed a number of routes and other airlines have followed them. The increased airlift has helped. From October 2005 to the present, things have been good. We have enjoyed a windfall from visitors who would have gone to Cancun. The natural disasters in both New Orleans and the Far East have also helped us.”