Jamaica Welcomes a Record-breaking Number of UK Visitors

Jamaica has broken all prior records by welcoming an outstanding number of tourists from the UK in the first four months of the year to the exotic Caribbean island. The Jamaica Tourist Board is hoping that the number of visitors will at least match their previous annual record of 225,000.

Edmund Bartlett, the Minister of Tourism for Jamaica made a statement to a news portal, “The UK market is doing extremely well. It is the fastest recovering market for us.

“We are about 90% recovered for international visitors and our earnings are likely to surpass 2019’s level, which would be beyond our expectations.”

He also reported that the average daily room rates in hotels in Jamaica “have shot up” and said: “Every carrier to Jamaica is coming in full. The frequency and number of flights have reduced, but the aircraft are bigger, and they are full.

“Forward bookings are excellent for the rest of this summer, and winter is shaping up to be great even against a background of inflation and recession.”

Bartlett has further mentioned, “We are one of the most tourism-dependent economies in the world, so this swift recovery of British visitors to Jamaica is hugely valuable.”

He remained steadfast and persisted, “The recovery has been great for us – better than we hoped.”

But he also noted some of the struggles they are still facing, “We are still affected by staff shortages. Cruise has not come back [at the same rate] because of the staff shortages, and winter cruise is huge in the Caribbean.”

Bartlett has mentioned that the Caribbean overall “is doing fairly well” but he added: “The recovery is not symmetrical – Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Costa Rica are doing well.”

Over the course of this year, Jamaica is anticipating welcoming around 3.2 million international visitors.