23 JUL 2018: Jamaica celebrated an overall market growth welcoming over 100,000 more tourists year-on-year and earned a sizeable increase in foreign exchange earnings. For the period January to June 2018, Jamaica recorded over 1.25 million stopover arrivals and over 1 million cruise arrivals.
Stopover tourist arrivals increasedby 5.9 percent and cruise by 4.8 percent over the same period last year.
Stopover arrivals accounted for US $1.459 billion in earnings and cruise accounted for US $100.6 million, totaling US $1.556 billion (US), which represents an increase of 7.3 percent.
Quick, decisive and sustained initiatives led by Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett and Director of Tourism Donovan White, successfully mitigated the possible negative outcomes that could have resulted when Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced a state of emergency for St. James Parish in January. He deployed the military to the area to confront criminal activities.
During a press conference at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James, Minister Bartlett reported that “the strong on-the-ground marketing engagements which brought us face to face with key stakeholders here and around the world, have helped to not only stave off any fall-out from these measures but also increased growth in arrivals to our shores.”
Speaking about the marketing activities that were engaged to keep Jamaica top of mind, Director White noted “it has been all hands on deck as teams locally and overseas spread the message of destination Jamaica’s commitment to providing exciting and authentic experiences to all visitors. As we ramp up our digital marketing strategies among a range of other initiatives, we are confident that the value of our tourism product will continue to attract visitors.”
Minister Bartlett reiterated that “while the implementation of enhanced security measures did stir a whirlwind of concerns locally and internationally, several overseas partners welcomed the initiative as a necessary step and continue to support our nation’s security apparatus in their efforts to make Jamaica a safe place for all.”