Jamaica welcomes just under 300,000 visitors since Melissa
ST JAMES, Jamaica — Despite the impact of Hurricane Melissa which left widespread damage across the Jamaica’s tourism belt, thousands of visitors are descending on the Island.
During a staff appreciation breakfast for tourism workers at the Sangster International Airport (SIA) on Saturday morning, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett revealed the progress being made in the sector.
“Five weeks after, we boast of having 180,000 stopover visitors coming to Jamaica and 114,000 cruise. We are nearly 300,000 visitors since we have started to operate again,” he declared.
Following the storm, there was major destruction in some areas, and the Minister was quick to highlight the rebound of the sector that is still in the process of rebuilding.
Despite that, he pointed out that entry into the country is not a problem for visitors.
“The first area that I wanted the world to understand that’s ready is our points of entry, the airports of Jamaica. All three airports are ready, and MBJ sets the stage this morning, and let us show the world that yes, we are ready,” said Bartlett.
He said this shows the resilience of the country, and sought to highlight the scope of the devastation that Jamaica faced.
“For a little country, just the size of the King’s Ranch of Texas, having the worst weather event in, arguably, the history of the northern hemisphere – western, if you want to call it any hemisphere, because the climatologists and the meteorologists and all of those who measure the intensity of weather events are still to determine whether Melissa was a Category 5…or a Category X, and to have survived 185 miles an hour winds with gusts of 252 miles per hour in places,” he said.
