Over 1 Million Airline Seats Secured for Winter Out of US Gateways – Bartlett  

• Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, on Thursday, announced that a record 1.05Mn airline seats have been secured from nearly six thousand flights coming into Jamaica out of the United States during the upcoming winter season.
• With just over two weeks for winter travellers to start their vacations, in anticipation of a record winter tourist season, Minister Bartlett says: “This surge in airlift represents an increase of 13% over winter 2022/2023, where we recorded a whopping 923,000 airline seats.”
• “To date, ten airlines have some 5,914 flights booked out of key US gateways to the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay and Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston between January and April 2024, adding to the flurry expected over the 2023 Christmas holiday period,” Minister Bartlett explained.
• “These numbers reflect the ongoing effort of the Ministry of Tourism, through the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) as our marketing arm, working alongside our international and local partners in the travel and hospitality sectors, to ensure continuous growth in our tourism industry,” says Minister Bartlett.
• He also disclosed that “already for the period, January to November 29, 2023, preliminary figures indicate that some 2.5Mn stopover visitors have graced our shores, accounting for an 18% increase over the same period in 2022 and a 10% increase over the same period in pre-pandemic 2019.”
• “If we continue on this impressive growth trajectory, we will be on track to meet our new projections of 4 million visitors and foreign exchange earnings of US$4.1Bn by year-end,” asserts Minister Bartlett.

(Source: JIS)