EDMUND Bartlett on Thursday described as “historic” the visit of some 900,000 tourists in the first seven weeks of 2019.

The minister of tourism told a press briefing at his offices in New Kingston that the figure represents a 14 per cent increase over the same period last year, noting that the country has never before welcomed so many visitors within a two-month period.

“We have not had this many visitors over the period before. As a matter of fact, that kind of figure is what we usually have for the entire winter season, and that would have included cruise and stopover together,” he explained.

The minister confirmed that the majority of the visitors were from the United States, but noted that Europe and Latin America also had fairly high figures, with Latin America showing increases which are set to intensify with the likely addition of at least several thousand more rooms in the near future.

“But the Caribbean is also very interesting, because the Caribbean has been showing increases and there are the Jamaican nationals in the Diaspora. The Diaspora has been running at about 10 per cent of the total stopover arrivals,” he pointed out.

Asked whether the huge increase could be due to the weather on the American continent, Bartlett flatly rejected the idea, giving credit to the work of his team at the ministry, including the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB).

“The work that has been done in the marketplace by the JTB is phenomenal, in the last two years in particular. I mean they have done well over time, but in the last two years I believe that we have reached the market in a new way,” he noted.

He also praised the level of tourism diplomacy that the country has undertaken over the past two years.

“Jamaica is regarded as a thought leader in innovation and all new (tourism) trends. Our leadership with the Global Centre for Resilience, is a huge global impact…To the extent that I am going to Berlin next week and there is an award for the innovation minister of the world, because Jamaica has been the leader in the field,” he said.

Bartlett stated that Jamaica has also been the leader in terms of the development of small- and medium-sized accommodations, to the extent that it had hosted the first-ever global conference on small and medium enterprises in Montego Bay last month.

“So Jamaica has inserted itself into all the marketplaces across the world and is becoming the talking point,” he said.

The minister said that these things were creating the excitement about Jamaica as a destination, and the growth was beginning to happen.

Bartlett also stated that there is a new wave of investment in the Jamaican tourism sector, which should lead to the introduction of 6,000 to 8,000 new rooms in the near future.

“This morning I got another proposal for expansion downtown (Kingston), and another expansion for Freeport in Montego Bay for another 500 rooms. So it’s happening… and it is happening also because Jamaica is seen as a safer and more secure destination, with a higher value added,” he noted.