Tourism Earns US$1.46 Billion for Jamaica in Six

Jamaica generated US$1.46 billion in tourism earnings during the first six months of the 2017 calendar year to record an impressive 7.5 per cent increase over the corresponding period in 2016.

Additionally, the country welcomed 2,165,330 visitors up to the end of June this year, which was 3.9 per cent higher than the corresponding period in 2016. These included 1,186,646 stopover visitors and 978,684 cruise passengers.

Those figures were announced Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett, who also said that a record 104,098 stopover visitors arrived during the first two weeks of July – a 14.9 per cent increase over the corresponding period last year.

The Minister said all this indicated that the industry was, at the end of last month, ahead of the Government’s projected growth targets, aimed at increasing visitor arrivals to five million and generating US$5 billion in five years.

Bartlett said based on the support anticipated for upcoming events, such as the Jamaica 55 Diaspora Conference in Kingston and Reggae Sumfest in Montego Bay, growth for the overall four-month period between April and July will average over 10 per cent.