SOME 2.5 million tourists arrived in the island in 2004, recording for Jamaica the highest number of visitors in any one year despite a fall-off in cruise ship arrivals.

According to figures released by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), the tourists spent US$1.36 billion (approx $84 billion), topping the year prior's foreign exchange earnings by more than US$39 million.

The combined stopover and cruise visits reflect a 1.3 per cent climb above arrivals in 2003, the agency said in its quarterly Economic Update and Outlook Report for the period October to December 2004.

Stopover arrivals for the year went up by 4.8 per cent:

. 71 per cent came from the United States;

. 17 per cent from Europe, including the United Kingdom; and

. 7 per cent from Canada.

Cruise ship arrivals remained over the million passenger mark, but dropped by almost three per cent to 1,099,773.
The report said the cruise sector's performance reflected the negative impact of two big storms, Charley and Ivan, during the hurricane season.

Commenting on the performance of the different tourist markets, the PIOJ said arrivals from Europe grew by 6.8 per cent, and Canada by 7.5 per cent.

The report further indicated that the average length of stay was up marginally to 10.3 nights per stopover visitor compared with 10.2 nights for the corresponding period of 2003.

Real Gross Domestic Product for hotels, restaurants clubs - the segment within which tourism earnings are captured - increased by 4.6 per cent for the calendar year.

Trousers in Denim

Cream of the 'Crop'

Cheeky's World