ROSE HALL, St James — Even as he conceded that Hurricane Melissa has blown his ambitious targets for the sector off track, Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett is confident Jamaica has enough time to rebound in time for his original 2030 goalpost.

The target, before the Category 5 storm battered sections of the country including key resort areas, was for the country to earn US$5 million by welcoming five million visitors within the next five years.

“That process has not died because we are looking to 2030. And although we are beginning with 70 per cent of our room stock, when we add to that the peer-to-peer and we add to that the villas and apartments, we are probably a little ahead of the game of 70 per cent,” he insisted.

Bartlett’s comments came during a tourism partners strategic meeting at Iberostar Resort and Spa last Saturday afternoon. Iberostar and RIU are among hotels that reopened ahead of the December 15 official start of the tourist season. The minister and his team are slated to be in a key market, as of today, drumming up business.

“We are looking to building up back the United States market in the way that we should. We are going there next week Wednesday,” Bartlett said during last week’s event.

“The director [of the Jamaica Tourist Board Donovan White] and I will be in New York starting the ball a-rolling for the Northeastern Seaboard, which is our breadbasket — the largest and most important market segment in the world for tourism in Jamaica,” he added.

The trip followed one to Canada, and there are others planned as tourism officials let the world know Jamaica is ready to welcome guests.

“We will be in London, we will be at Futuro, we will be at ITB, we will be all over the globe as we try to ensure that within a short period of time the growth trajectory of tourism in Jamaica will be at full V shape, not a U. There is no U about us. We are V — and we saw that with COVID and we will see it with Melissa,” a confident Bartlett said.

He pointed to positive signals from the airlines.

“COPA [Airlines] says we will increase now to 10 flights per week, so South America is bubbling. Just Montego Bay, just 10 flights to Montego Bay — not Jamaica, because we already have five to Kingston — that will make 15 flights a week from COPA, which is the most extensive [and] with the largest footprints in South America to the Caribbean here,” Bartlett disclosed.

He also hinted at imminent good news about airlift provider LATAM Airlines but opted not to disclose details. The tourism minister exuded confidence in the number of flights coming in.

“South America is bubbling, Europe is bubbling, the UK is bubbling. We are getting more flights now coming out of the UK for this winter season,” he stated.

“TUI [Airways] is there, strong; Virgin [Atlantic] is strong; British [Airways] is strong. Condor is strong out of Germany,” added Bartlett.

He is looking ahead to the room stock being back at full strength to welcome these guests.

“The partners who are preparing to join the process as we move on with the recovery, we’re with you, and we understand, and we know that the process will be strengthened, the process will be accelerated,” he said.

“The dates that we have might just begin to close in a little more as 2026 comes into being so that, in short order, we can say 100 per cent of the stock is ready and available. From what I am seeing and what I am feeling, as the load factors increase with the rotations of our airline partners we are also going to see occupancy levels increase — and that will be significant,” the minister added.