Tourism Sector to Benefit from Increased Airlift

• Jamaica’s tourism sector is set to benefit from new and increased airlift arrangements. Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, said that during a recent market blitz in North America, American Airlines executives confirmed as many as 17 non-stop flights per day on many major routes to Jamaica. 
• Furthermore, other airlines such as Frontier Airlines are now offering non-stop service from Miami, Atlanta and Orlando, and are looking to add two to three weekly direct flights from Denver, Colorado later this year. 
• Eurowings, Europe’s third-largest point-to-point airline, also began its inaugural trip from Frankfurt, Germany to Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport on November 3, 2021. Germany has historically been an important market for Jamaica, with 23,000 German visitors in 2019. This figure is expected to increase significantly once Eurowings and Condor commence nonstop flights. 
• The anticipated increase in flights to Jamaica, recent actions by the CDC to repeal its risk advisory on cruise travel, as well as its lowering of Jamaica’s travel risk level to two (moderate) bode well for the island’s tourism growth prospects. These factors should help the sector to meet or exceed its target of approximately 2.45 to 2.5 million visitor arrivals and total visitor spend of about $2.9 billion in 2022, as well as the recovery back to the pre-pandemic level.

(Source: JIS and NCBCM Research)