President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) Robin Russell has said that he is very optimistic about the upcoming winter tourist season which is to begin in December.

“We had a very good winter season last year which spilled over into a very strong summer, so we are expecting that same level of demand coming into the upcoming season,” he said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer this week.

The highly anticipated winter season, which usually runs from mid-December to mid-April, is largely regarded as the high season and one of the best times for travels to Jamaica due to better weather conditions. For last year’s season, the country in the first month alone welcomed over 40,000 visitors, record out-turns which Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett described as the “strongest in the history of the country.”

“More than 11,000 stopover visitors arrived on approximately 61 flights landing at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay on December 17, 2022, making it the biggest number recorded in a single day,” Bartlett had said, while basking in the robust post-pandemic recovery that the local tourism industry continues to enjoy.

The JHTA head, in underscoring the readiness of most properties and other sector players, said that this along with the completed expansion of the Sangster’s airport runway along with increased traffic from some new markets will further help to bring increased positive out-turns for the sector.

At the JHTA’s premier Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX) tradeshow scheduled to get underway from September 11-13 in Montego Bay, St James, Russell said that marketing efforts have been amplified as the country looks to engage these markets and to sell its tourism product to attract more visitors outside of traditional areas.

“At the conference next week, we expect to have participation from markets including India, Latin America and Asia, which, hopefully by the conclusion of the event, will start to see more of these countries exploring our local product,” he stated.

Russell also said that with discussions now underway with other linkage groups, particularly agriculture, there is a concerted effort for the respective industries to work together in order to satisfy the demands.

“We have a meeting today with farmers, just to hear from them as we also inform them of what our demand will look like, because as suppliers they too have a role in ensuring that we are ready for the season,” he said.

Citing continued challenges around labour supply, the JHTA head, however, said that every effort is now being taken to train and equip qualified workers in preparation for the start of the new season.

He also said that while the fast-rising Airbnb market continues to cut into the numbers, its presence was more a complementary one than one which cannibalises.

“It enhances our product, so I don’t view it as a threat. They have a place in the market which comes with some demand but from what I’ve so far seen, it has not cannibalised the traditional all-inclusive market as some would think. I admit that there are, however, some challenges with these players that we would want to resolve, so we are working with these partners to see how best we can remedy,” Russell told the Caribbean Business Report.

Calling for the accelerated roll-out of some thousands of new room stock, Russell said the addition of these units will significantly help to cushion the ballooning of year-on year demand.

“We won’t be able to get much more growth unless we start to put in these room stocks. With approximately 9,000 rooms expected to come on stream gradually within the next two years, we believe this will add exponentially to what our product will be,” Russell said.