This year, Jamaica had its busiest and best-ever winter travel season, and the island is expected to continue seeing growth in the tourism sector for the foreseeable future.
Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s minister of tourism, recently announced that 1.18 million tourists visited the island between January and March 2023 as he was introducing Jamaica’s sectoral debate in parliament. Early 2023 visitor counts show an increase of 94.4 percent over the same period in 2022.
In 2022, after the outbreak, Jamaica experienced a major uptick in U.S. tourism to the island. In terms of visitor arrivals, the Caribbean region saw its best-ever summer season in 2022. The island’s forecasts for 2024 are as outstanding. Jamaica projects that the tourist sector will bring in around $4.1 billion in revenue in 2019.
According to Breaking Travel News, Bartlett stated before Parliament that “if there was ever an industry that has the potential to transform our country, our communities, and the lives and livelihoods of the Jamaican people for the better, it is tourism.”
Jamaica’s real gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to increase by 3 to 5 percent from January through March 2023 compared to the same period in the previous year because of the country’s thriving tourism sector. Hotels and restaurants are predicted to perform well, driving the growth.
“Tourism has never before contributed so significantly to the national economy of Jamaica, and we are willing to contribute to that process and to make even greater contributions,” Bartlett added. “Jamaicans at all socioeconomic levels can benefit from a larger piece of the tourism pie.”
There has also been a great deal of investment in the island’s tourism industry in recent years. Over the last five years, tourism investment made up 20 percent of the island’s total foreign direct investments. Looking forward, over the next five to 10 years, there are several upcoming investment projects on the horizon that Bartlett said will add 15,000 to 20,000 new rooms in Jamaica. The total value of these investment projects is between $4 billion to $5 billion.
“Tourism will be the biggest driver of economic growth and prosperity in Jamaica for years to come,” Bartlett said.
BEST DEALS ON FLIGHT & HOTEL BOOKINGS
Save upto 30%
Book Now! https://snagout.com