KINGSTON, Jamaica – Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says that Jamaica’s performance in terms of visitor arrivals last week-end was a record for the COVID-19 period, and among the best the island has ever experienced.

“The tourism industry is now poised for full recovery, officially,” the Minister boasted yesterday after confirming that there were 27,000 visitors between last Thursday and Sunday.

This week-end was a particularly strong one. We welcomed nearly 27,000 visitors between Thursday and Sunday, with Saturday being a particularly strong day with 8,700 visitors,” he stated.

“This is critical, as it makes the point that from the month of March, which traditionally, is a full one, it has started out well and the bookings are indicating a very, very strong March which would equate with the month of March in 2019,” he added.

In 2019, the contribution of travel and tourism to Jamaica’s GDP was 34.7 per cent, and although there had been substantial fluctuations past years, that performance inspired an increase between 2000 and 2019 which closed off at 34.7 per cent.

Indeed, prior to the 2019 start of the pandemic, Travel & Tourism (including its direct, indirect and induced impacts) accounted for one in four of all new jobs created across the world, 10.6 per cent of all jobs (334 million), and 10.4 per cent of global GDP (US$9.2 trillion).

 Meanwhile, international visitor spending amounted to US$1.7 trillion in 2019 (6.8 per cent of total exports, and 27.4 per cent of global services exports.

Bartlett also noted that it is very important for the tourism workers to be back on the job, as the pandemic calmed down.

“It is very important too for suppliers, that they now have some certainty, in terms of the flow of visitors that need to come in and it also speaks to our investment and financial partners, that now we can feel a sense of confidence to apply more resources to the visitors’ consumption patterns,” the minister noted.

He said that his ministry was excited about the prospects for agriculture, and has decided to increase support for the production drive, as well as the manufacturers, ground transportation, cultural services providers and the entertainers.

“This is the moment, and as we recover, we want to recover together so that the supply chain for tourism can be infused with a strong local content, so that the dollar can stay in Jamaica and ensure that the real benefits of tourism accrue to the people of Jamaica,” he added.

-Balford Henry