ROSE HALL, St James — With last year’s 4.1 per cent drop in visitors from the US while arrivals from the Caribbean grew by 25 per cent, the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) has started to ramp up its focus on attracting even more tourists from the region.

While noting that growth in a number of other markets — Canada at six per cent, UK 11 per cent, and continental Europe by almost two per cent — helped cushion the blow of an underperforming US market, JTB Director of Tourism Donovan White on Monday spoke of the need for a change in its marketing strategy because of the strength of the numbers from the Caribbean.

“It’s interesting, because for a long time our marketing and sales efforts focused more on the larger markets but the truth is, the Caribbean is a fairly large and dynamic marketplace, one that should never have been ignored and will never again be left out of our activities,” he said.

White was speaking during the second day of the Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX) 2025 which runs until Wednesday at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.

He outlined steps already taken to grow the visitors from the regional market.

“We’ve appointed a sales manager, specifically dedicated to the Caribbean region, who works closely with agents and tour companies across the islands,” White added.

He also pointed out that JTB has been collaborating with regional airlines to increase seat capacity into Jamaica from various destinations within the region. The infrequency and high cost of intra-regional flights has long been a source of concern among travellers and tourism stakeholders.

“We now have multiple weekly flights from countries such as The Bahamas, Antigua, Barbados, which also connects the eastern Caribbean, along with the Dominican Republic, and Turks and Caicos,” White assured.

“Cayman has always been a strong partner, and the expanding network of air service from the region is becoming an increasingly vital part of our strategy,” he added.

During his presentation the JTB director described 2024 as a “challenging year”, a designation largely ascribed to hiccups within the US market.

“The biggest issue we faced was a decline in our United States market,” said White. “It’s the only one of our major source markets that did not grow — in fact, it declined by 4.1 per cent,” said White as he explained the impact of that fall-off.

“When you experience a four per cent decline from a market that makes up 70 per cent of your arrivals, you’re bound to have either a flat year or a regressive one,” he noted.

This decline was largely attributed to the US State Department’s Level 3 travel advisory which, though not new, received unusually high media coverage and caused concern among travellers and industry partners.

“It wasn’t a new designation, but for some reason it received more media syndication than ever before,” White said. “It shook the confidence of the travelling public. And as we often say — while it may sound like a cliché — airlift truly is the lifeblood of our industry but one of the fastest ways to lose airlift is to lose traveller confidence.”

Since then, conditions have improved. Jamaica has now been upgraded to a Level 2 advisory following a significant decline in major crime.

“[Year] 2025 has started strong, bolstered by the improved advisory level,” White said. “Up to June of this year we’ve welcomed just under 1.5 million visitors.”

The cruise tourism sector is also showing steady recovery, though it is rebounding at a slower pace than stopover arrivals which have now surpassed pre-COVID-19 levels. In 2024 the cruise industry brought in 1.253 million visitors, and expectations are high for continued growth.

“This year is shaping up to be a good one; we’re likely to get back close to our 2019 cruise arrival numbers,” White noted.

“Our team at Jamaica Vacations has worked hard with cruise lines to develop new marketing strategies and rebuild itineraries, linking with other destinations to create attractive port options for Jamaica,” he said.

The JTB director also pointed to positive trends such as a notable increase in both the length of stay and spending per visitor.

“Travellers are staying longer — up from an average of 7.5 nights to about 8.3 or 8.7 nights. And spending has increased from [US]$160 per person per night to as high as [US]$192,” White told those gathered for JAPEX 2025.

Now in its 30th year, the annual expo is a flagship event for the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), bringing together more than 40 international tourism stakeholders to explore opportunities and strengthen partnerships.

On Monday, JHTA president and hotelier Christopher Jarrett highlighted the critical role the sector plays within the Jamaican economy.

“We’re all here because we believe in the power of tourism in Jamaica,” he said. “Tourism is our engine of growth, contributing significantly to GDP and employment.”

Director of tourism at the Jamaica Tourist Board, Donovan White speaking Monday during the second day of JAPEX 2025 in Montego Bay.