Over 1.2Mn Visitors, US$1.7Bn in Tourism Earnings Since June 2020

• Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says Jamaica has welcomed a total of 1.29Mn visitors since the reopening of the country’s borders in June 2020, with estimated earnings of US$1.70Bn. 
• These figures, which account for arrivals up to September 2021, comprise approximately 1,276,987 stopover visitors and 8,381 cruise passengers. This puts the country on track to reach the forecast for 2021, which is for 1.57Mn visitors and more than US$2.0Bn in earnings. 
• However, the forecast for 2021 is still below the visitors in 2019 of 4,233,266 but above the arrivals for 2020 of 1,329,675. Notably, stopover arrivals and cruise arrivals in 2019 were 2,680,920 and 1,552,346 respectively, while for 2020 they were 880,404 and 449,271. 
• Meanwhile, the Tourism Minister said that the cruise industry should be fully back on track by December with projections for approximately 300,000 cruise passengers by year end. The return of cruise shipping signals the second critical phase of the reopening of the tourism industry and will aid greatly in bringing back much-needed jobs.

(Source: JIS News)