KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says for the first quarter of 2018, tourist arrivals were at record levels.

Making his contribution to the 2018/19 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives today, the minister informed that for the period, total arrivals  were at 1,298,674, an increase of  6.6 per cent, including 625,002 stopovers, up by 6.8 per cent; and 673,672 cruise passengers, up by 6.5 per cent.

The minister said this means that Jamaica recorded 80,000 more visitors for January to March, 2018, compared with the same period last year.

“We earned, in the process, US$825.3 million, representing an increase of 8.5 per cent in the first quarter of the year,” Bartlett told the House.

The minister noted that the month of March also recorded a whopping 11.3 per cent increase in stopover arrivals over the similar month last year.

Bartlett said that Jamaica’s tourism sector is poised to exceed its projected growth targets.