KINGSTON, Jamaica — Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says seven flights are expected into Jamaica on June 15, the day non-nationals are allowed into the country.

During the period of June 15-30, the country is expecting about 70 flights, bringing in the region of 5,000 to 6,000 visitors over that period.

“It’s a start, and it’s a start that is going to be vital because we need to ensure that the capacity is there to manage that kind of flow,” Bartlett said.

He said that a number of accommodations have been certified, and 35 have identified their readiness to actually start, and have been given the COVID resilience certificate by the Tourism Product Development Company.

Meanwhile, Bartlett said bookings for tourism after June 30 appear “reasonably robust”.

“We’re seeing an uptick. We are looking at in the region of 40-45 per cent of last year, between July and August. We will see a dip in September and October, but we’re beginning to see the pacing for November also picking up strong, trending towards a good Winter,” he said.