The number of tourists flocking to Jamaica soared nearly 100% in the first three months of the year, prompting the country’s tourism minister to declare: “This is the biggest and best winter season Jamaica has ever had in the history of tourism.”
In reviewing the performance of the tourism sector as he opened the Sectoral Debate in Parliament, Edmund Bartlett told Parliament that there were 1.18 million arrivals from January through March — 94% more than the same period of 2022 and a record high for Jamaica’s tourism high season.
He added that the island’s tourism industry was set on a path to continue the boom now being experienced.
However, a side effect of the quick recovery has been overcrowding at the island’s main airport in Montego Bay, including long customs queues.
In an interview with The Associated Press Bartlett said that the problem stems from a shortage of airport staff to process the unexpected volume of people flying into Sangster International since the end of the pandemic.
“The recovery has been stronger than anticipated and everybody all over the world is having difficulty with their airports because… (many) of the workers have not come back,” he said, adding that authorities plan to spend more on technology as they strive to do away with paperwork at the airport, including ending a requirement for visitors to fill out a form upon arrival.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness said the problems at Sangster underscore the need to push through the $70 million modernization and expansion project that already was underway and scheduled to be completed by 2025.
As part of the project, the runway is being lengthened at a cost of $34 million, work that is expected to be finished in June.
“We are excited about the prospects of Sangster being able to accommodate these mega airlines that will be flying to Jamaica and the Caribbean,” Bartlett said.
He stated the Tourism Ministry’s growth plan aims to have the island draw 5 million visitors annually by 2025, which would be a 35% increase from Jamaica’s peak of 3.7 million tourists in 2022.
Bartlett said Asian and Middle Eastern countries are among new markets being targeted and the airport must be able to accommodate the larger aircraft that would be used on such long-haul flights.
In 2019, before the pandemic, the airport processed 4.7 million passengers, including citizens and visitors. The number of tourists to Jamaica peaked at 3.7 million in 2022, 70% of whom used the Sangster gateway.
Sangster is managed by MBJ Airports Ltd., a consortium 74.5% owned by a subsidiary of the Mexican airports operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico and the rest by Vantage Airport Group of Canada.
The consortium, which has a 30-year concession that began in 2003, said it spent $287 million to improve the airport in the first 18 years of the deal.
Among the improvements, the airport operator has expanded the immigration hall and departure lounge. The check-in area was recently outfitted with 60 self-service kiosks, with plans to install more, to reduce passenger processing and waiting times.
Meanwhile, Bartlett told Parliament that “If there was ever an industry that has the potential to transform our nation, our communities and the lives and livelihoods of the Jamaican people for the better, it is tourism.”
“Never before in the history of Jamaica has tourism made such a great contribution to the national economy and we are willing to contribute to that process and to make even greater contributions,” declared Bartlett, noting that “Jamaicans at all levels of society can enjoy a bigger slice of the tourism pie.”