Tourism is booming in Jamaica, with numbers continuing to exceed projections, according to the island’s Tourism Minister, Edmund Bartlett. 

Last year, the island welcomed a total of 1,464,399 stavover visitors, according to new data from the Jamaica Tourist Board. 

That number led to nearly $2 billion in visitor spending, with visitors staying for even longer trips — an average of 9.1 nights in 2021. 

The latter represented an increase from the 7.9 nights-per-trip average in 2019, before the onset of the pandemic. 

“The fact that we exceeded visitor arrivals and spend projections for 2021 is a clear testament to the strength and resilience of Jamaica’s tourism product as well as the excellent relationships we enjoy with our travel industry partners,” Bartlett said in a statement. “As we are gradually relaxing travel restrictions, we fully expect a stronger recovery as consumers from our key source markets are resuming international travel in steadily growing numbers.”

Visitors from the United States dominated the island’s tourism growth, accounting for 1,278,679 arrivals last year — or about 87 percent of all travelers to the island in 2021. 

And the trend has continued in the first quarter of 2022. 

This past weekend, Jamaica welcomed 27,00 visitors to the island, with 8,700 on Saturday alone — representing the highest number for a single day since the country first reopened its borders in June 2020. 

For 2022, Jamaica is projecting around 2.5 million visitor arrivals, with projected visitor spend of around $2.9 billion. 

For more, visit Jamaica.