Jamaica Records 5.8 Percent Increase in Tourist Arrivals for 2014

Jamaica recorded a 3.6 per cent increase in tourist arrivals in 2014, Tourism and Entertainment Minister, Dr. Wykeham McNeill has announced. McNeill said that the island had received an estimated US$2.2 billion in revenue from the sector last year, a 5.8 per cent increase over the similar period in 2013.

He said the Jamaica welcomed more than two million stopover visitors during last year as compared to 2013, describing the figures as unprecedented.

“This surpassed the two million we did in 2013. Between January and December 2014, we welcomed 2,080,181stopover visitors, which represents an increase of 3.6 per cent over the 2,008,004 stop over visitors recorded for 2013,” he said.

He said overall, Jamaica welcomed over 71,000 more visitors during 2014, than the previous year and that the major contributors were increased arrivals from the source markets, with stopover arrivals out of Europe growing by 10.7 per cent; Canada 5.2 per cent and the United States two per cent.

McNeill said that there had also been a 9.2 per cent increase from the Asian market. McNeill said that Jamaica also recorded a 12.5 per cent growth in cruise ship arrivals over 2013.

“In 2014, the island welcomed 1,423, 797 cruise visitors, which represents an increase of 12.5 per cent over 2013. In other words, Jamaica welcomed over 158,000 more cruise ship visitors in 2014 than we did in 2013.

“So, in total, Jamaica welcomed some 3.5 million visitors to the island in 2014,” McNeill said, noting that for December 2014, the first month of the current Winter Tourist season, arrivals recorded an increase of 5.9 per cent over 2013, with 213,129, and that cruise ship was also up 12.6 per cent.

McNeill said that preliminary arrival figures for January 2015 are very promising and from all indications, Jamaica should experience a very strong (rest of) the winter season, and that things are shaping up for the summer.

Source: Caribbean360