MONTEGO BAY, St James — Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett is banking on Jamaica’s diversification into various markets to help weather any fallout from increased air fares because of rising fuel prices.

“Doubtlessly, we have the spiralling costs of air services and the impact that the increased fuel costs are having, and the market will show some response. The good news is, the way we have been diversifying our markets and the kind of demographic we are now seeing in Jamaica — not that it is immune to shocks in the economy but it is more resilient,” said Bartlett.

“The mix of demographics that Jamaica is now enjoying is going to be that point of resilience that will help us to overcome the difficulties that inflation will bring,” he added.

He was speaking with the Jamaica Observer at the Sangster International Airport last Saturday on the sidelines of an inaugural American Airlines flight out of Austin, Texas. There were 66 passengers plus crew on board. The weekly non-stop flight is expected to provide another avenue for visitors out of the south-eastern seaboard of the United States to Jamaica.

This, the minister explained, will prove to be crucial to the local tourism product.

“We are very strong in the north-east, as is well known, we call that the breadbasket, but the south-east is now strong because it does have the capacity to drive the numbers to us,” Bartlett stressed.

He said this is a precursor to several other such events expected to follow in the coming months.

“We are seeing more gateways in the US opening up. We have other occasions that we are going to come back here for; some other gateways that are opening up. We don’t want to rain on the parade of American Airlines today, but I assure that in short order, from Connecticut, from Denver, and other places, we are going to have similar events like this over the next few months as new gateways are opened and new carriers are also coming,” he promised.

This and other developments have led to optimism that the summer season is going to be a good one, in terms of travel. During his remarks, the minister declared that this summer is poised to be the best one Jamaica has ever had.

“The projection for this summer is that it will be larger, indeed, it’s going to be the largest summer that Jamaica has ever had. The numbers, we don’t like to throw out too readily, but we can assure you, based on the bookings we have and the pacing we have, we are well ahead of 2019,” he said.

“All the bookings and the indications are that we are going to exceed 2019 levels in this summer. A strong summer means that agriculture will be stronger, it means that manufacturing will be stronger, and it means that transportation will be stronger,” he expressed with delight.

These projections come just after the country recorded positive numbers for the winter tourist season.

“Our revenue is pacing ahead of our arrival growth,” Bartlett said, while also disclosing that the preliminary numbers show the country has earned just over US$1.2 billion to date.

“What is clear is that we are moving ahead, in terms of our earnings, to the point where we are going to be just about $100 million shy of the $3.7 billion that we earned in 2019,” he remarked.

He also revealed that during the winter tourist reason, the country saw a little over 800,000 visitors, about 81 per cent of the numbers for 2019.

“The recovery has truly been strong and has been good for Jamaica,” the minister declared.