Jamaica’s tourism Minister was just elected Chair of the Commission of the Amerikas at UNWTO last month, and the fresh wind blows in this part of the World Tourism Organization and the busy travel and tourism industry in Jamaica loves it.
Buoyed by the full recovery of Jamaica’s tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism is aggressively pushing to reengage this large source market in Latin America.
“The Latin America region has over 600 million people and represents one of the largest source markets for Jamaica that we must capitalize on. With travel fully returned and the potential of new airlift out of the region, we are building out strategies to attract these visitors,” said Minister Bartlett.
Copa Airlines remains the strongest airline partner with an increased frequency of 4 flights weekly to Montego Bay and Kingston, with the aim of providing 5 flights weekly by Q1 in 2024.
“Now is the time for Jamaica, a sought-after destination, to leverage this very lucrative market as part of our drive to welcome 5 million visitors by 2025.
With 20 thousand rooms coming on stream in Jamaica, we will need to engage our airline partners for more airlift and seats, our tour operators, and create more investment to support this drive,” said Minister Bartlett.
In 2019, Jamaica welcomed over 38 thousand visitors from Latam, and the island was poised to increase this number in 2020, but then COVID hit. Coming out of the pandemic, in 2022, Jamaica was able to welcome over 22 thousand visitors from the region.
“The signs of interest for travel from Latam to Jamaica are strong, and we are ready to showcase our authentic culture and unique offerings,” said Director of Tourism, Donovan White.
Minister Bartlett is in Latin America with a team of senior tourism representatives as part of a high-level strategic re-engagement of the region.
