GETTING CLOSE!: Jamaica nears pre-pandemic arrivals level

Jamaican Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett (c) and Cayman Islands deputy premier Christopher Saunders (l), and tourism minister Kenneth Bryan

Jamaica’s tourism sector has almost fully recovered from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, says the country’s tourism minister, though he admits that Canada’s numbers are “lagging behind a little,” though he assured that “progress is being made.”

Led by a strong recovery from the US and UK – the only country that is pacing ahead of its pre-pandemic numbers – Edmund Bartlett said, “the good news is that Jamaica has now recovered 90% from the COVID-19 pandemic in the tourism sector,” noting that “our recovery in terms of arrivals this year is likely to be well over 3 million.”

He added that the sector is also expecting earnings of only US$100 million or so below its record earnings of 2019 ($3.7 billion)

Bartlett said that the UK market is 6% ahead of 2019.

Regional tourism

Meanwhile, as Jamaica revelled in its recovery, tourism officials held talks with both Namibia and the Cayman islands to foster tourism collaborations between each country respectively.

Bartlett noted that Jamaica has already signed four similar agreements with Cuba, Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Panama and is seeking to include the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and Belize.

Meanwhile, Bartlett called for players in the private sector to develop a special tourism package, with an attractive price, that can be presented to the market to promote multi-destination tourism and enhance the regional tourism product.

In describing the concept, the minister explained that: “If you buy a trip to Jamaica for US$50, that $50 takes you into Cayman and into Trinidad,” he said, though admitting, however, that “that in itself would be an interesting and challenging task because we would then have to look at price differentiation in relation to what the product offering is.”

Such packages he feels will help to fuel the development of multi-destination tourism across the region, adding that it is “not beyond us.”

He said the issue will be further explored at the next meeting of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), Oct. 3-5 in Puerto Rico.