by Brian Major
Last updated: 10:00 AM ET, Fri September 29, 2023
This article originally appeared in AGENTatHOME magazine. Subscribe here to receive your free copy each month.
Jamaica’s reputation as a destination suited to virtually every traveler is well-earned. From casual sun-and-fun seekers to culturally driven explorers, the country’s diverse regions, activities and attractions truly offer something for everyone
That broad appeal extends to family vacationers and other holiday travelers, as evidenced by Jamaica’s robust post-pandemic visitor arrivals and tourism projections.
Climbing Visitor Numbers
Jamaica is poised to reach 11 percent year-over-year visitor arrival growth in 2023, ahead of the Caribbean nation’s earlier forecast, said Edmund Bartlett, the country’s tourism minister.
“We are now in growth mode and to achieve this in double digits for this year is huge,” Bartlett said in an exclusive August interview with AGENTatHOME.
The government-run Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) has established programs to provide families and holiday travelers with assets to ensure they experience a rewarding vacation experience, Bartlett said.
The JTB website’s Family Travel channel features tools travelers can use to “Experience a Dream Family Getaway in Jamaica,” including separate sections detailing topics from “Top 10 Resort Kids’ Clubs” to “Five Reasons Why an All-inclusive Resort is Perfect for Families.”
JTB Director Donovan White said the website information is part of an “integrated sales and marketing strategy embedded in the pervasive use of new technologies” to identify potential travelers, including holiday and family vacationers.
In turn, “Our airline partners, tour operators, travel agents and so many more have contributed to the destination remaining top of mind and accelerating our recovery," said White.
Holiday Happiness
Bartlett said Jamaica’s appeal to holiday and family travelers is tied to the country’s naturally welcoming character
“For the Jamaican, hospitality is in our DNA. The natural way in which Jamaicans relate to people in this space is absolutely phenomenal,” he said.
“I’ve traveled a lot and I haven’t seen such an effect anywhere else,” Bartlett continued. “But it’s not just my experience. Word-of-mouth has been one of the greatest mediums for advertising our attractions.”
Those conversations were initiated by travelers “who have come to Jamaica and experienced first-hand the warmth and the hospitality of the Jamaican people and have gone on to speak about it,” said Bartlett.
Path to Success
Bartlett said Jamaica is poised to post record arrivals during the 2023 festive holiday season following the JTB’s launch of strategic initiatives designed to accelerate the destination’s post-pandemic recovery.
“We started building out our recovery well within the global declaration of the end of the pandemic,” he said. “That was done out of our own sense of creating and building resilience in the sector.”
Bartlett added, “We had a plan for what each partner in the industry needed to do, what the government needed to do, and how collaboration between the private and public sectors should be configured in order to get the results we required.”
Tourism Improvements
Part of that effort included consultations held in April among tourism stakeholders, Jamaica’s tourism ministry and representatives of the Tourism Product Development Company Limited, another government agency, in popular resort areas.
The forums focused on launching local tourism improvements and discussing the industry’s wider impact on Jamaica’s economy. Other meetings were held with Negril’s Destination Assurance Council (DAC), tourism stakeholders, and public and private partners, Bartlett said.
Jamaica’s six DAC organizations, based in resort areas, are tasked with “ensuring that the quality, standards and integrity of Jamaica’s tourism products are maintained,” Bartlett said.
Airport Improvements
Jamaica has also launched a $140 million renovation of Sangster International Airport, the island’s main gateway, through which 70 percent of the country’s visitors arrive.
The airport renovation includes $70 million for upgrading and modernization of the airport terminal plus $70 million for a runway extension and an upgrade of civil infrastructure.
Sangster has struggled with “significant bottlenecks in receiving passengers” this year as Jamaica’s arrivals boomed, Andrew Holness, Jamaica’s prime minister, said in local media reports.
He called the current airport infrastructure and mechanisms “outdated” and said the multi-million dollar upgrade would improve the facility’s capacity for residents and visitors.
For his part, Bartlett said the airport improvement was part of an overall investment in improving tourism infrastructure.
“We have been able to look at how to improve infrastructure so that once the recovery came, it would be a seamless movement forward. And that seamlessness has reflected itself in positive way for us,” he said.
Tourism Infrastructure Enhancements
Bartlett said some of the airport improvements are already evident. “The arrangements at the airport are far better and more commodious, certainly in terms of the departure lounge and areas around it.”
He said “the second element within [the airport’s] expansion, the arrivals area, is now under construction.
“In a short while, you will have a repositioned, re-imagined Montego Bay airport.”
With improved infrastructure and a strategic plan for growth, Jamaican tourism shows every sign of continued expansion, based on its unique attributes.
“It’s a unique culture,” said Tom Carr, a Jamaica travel expert and CEO of PreferredVacations.com. “Jamaica is a country with deeply religious roots, but also the originator of reggae music and innovator of flavorful cuisine using natural ingredients [plus] a colorful patois language, [all of which] distinguish Jamaica as a must-do experience.”
Family Cultural Experiences
“The warmth and personality of the Jamaican people make for a great cultural experience for younger travelers who have yet to venture out to international destinations,” said Tom Carr of PreferredVacations.com.
“In turn, the parents feel a welcome environment for their family members of all ages,” he added.
“That to me is the principal driver of Jamaica’s success – the people of Jamaica their warmth, friendliness and hospitality,” said Jamaica Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett.
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