Jamaica Is Projecting 4.5 Million Total Visitors This Year
Jamaican tourism officials are projecting as many as 4.5 million total visitors this year — comprising stay over and cruise passenger arrivals, Caribbean Journal has learned.
That breaks down to 3.1 million projected stay over visitors and another 1.4 million cruise passengers.
The growth, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says, is driven by a push for air connectivity that means Jamaica now has nonstop or direct flights from more than 55 gateways worldwide.
“Jamaica’s rapid expansion in airlift is more than just a milestone for tourism; it’s a catalyst for national transformation,” Bartlett said during the island’s JAPEX tourism conference this week. “Our vision is clear — tourism must work for all Jamaicans.”
If the numbers bear out by the end of the year, that would represent a jump of nearly 200,000 air passengers over 2024, when Jamaica welcomed approximately 2.9 million air arrivals.
The arrival boost comes as Jamaica is also seeing a wave of new investment, as Caribbean Journal Invest recently reported, particularly on the island’s northern coast.
