Jamaica Reports Sustained Visitor Growth Through Summer

Image: Jamaica’s tourism growth continued through September. River rafting on Jamaica’s the Great River (Photo by Brian Major)

by Brian Major
Last updated: 11:25 AM ET, Thu October 5, 2023

Jamaica’s record-breaking 2023 tourism growth continued in the third quarter as the Caribbean nation hosted 682,586 overnight, land-based visitors during the period, a 5.5 percent year-over-year increase, said Jamaica Tourism Board (JTB) officials in a statement.

“The economic performance figures for the third quarter of the year show that Jamaica continues to shine as a premier destination, with significantly increasing stopover arrivals and earnings,” said Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s tourism minister.

Jamaica is among several Caribbean nations to report strong post-pandemic visitor arrivals. The country welcomed its two millionth visitor in June, reflecting a nine percent increase in land-based and cruise ship arrivals compared with June 2019. JTB officials say the island will host 3.9 million visitors in 2023.

Bartlett said the period covering July 1 to September 30, 2023, marks the 10th consecutive quarter “since the COVID-19 pandemic that we have shown significant growth."

Jamaica’s tourism earnings continued an “upward trend” during the third quarter, said Bartlett, totaling “roughly one billion U.S. dollars, representing a substantial 7.3 percent increase over the same period in 2022.”

Bartlett said Jamaica’s 2023 visitor growth includes a rebound in U.K.-based visitors. “The U.K. market has continued to outperform other markets outside of the United States,” he said.

U.K. traveler growth “continues to outpace the other non-American markets, and Jamaica now is the number one destination in the Caribbean for U.K. visitors,” added Bartlett.

Canada will also be a key visitor source going forward, Bartlett said. “We're excited about Canada and the prospects for improved growth,” adding he expects Canada to generate 500,000 visitors for Jamaica by 2025.

Visitor growth from Canada “will be driven by some new demographics emerging from the Asian-Canadian and luxury markets,” Bartlett concluded.

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