Tourist arrivals to Jamaica probably rose 32 percent in March this year over 2022 and are set to deliver a 4 percent increase to 283,000 visitors over 271,742 stopover arrivals in March 2019, data released for Montego Bay’s Sangster’s International Airport suggest.
The data also indicates that arrivals for the 2023 first quarter could result in stopover arrivals to the country rising a solid 45 percent to 742 thousand versus 510 thousand for the same period in 2022 and 5 percent above 2019.
The above is deduced from 491,300 total incoming and outgoing passengers in March 2023 compared with 385,800 in March 2022, Sangster’s International Airport, according to Aeroportuario del Pacifico, airport manages the international airports in Kingston and Montego Bay.
The total number of passengers at Montego Bay Airport increased by 27.3 percent in March this year, from 385,800 in March 2022 to 491,300. By comparison, 491,800 passengers passed through the airport in March 2019.
In the first three months of 2022, the Montego Bay Airport handled 45.6 percent more passengers than the 928,100 in the first three months of 2022 to 1,351,000 in 2023.
Kingston had a greater pick up in passenger movements than Montego Bay, with Norman Manley Airport handling 136,000 passengers in March this year, 38.1 percent more than the 98,500 handled in March 2022.
In the first three months of 2023, Kingston’s Airport saw total passenger movements grow by 46.9 percent, from 268,400 in 2022 to 394,200.
Tourist arrivals jumped 32% in March for Jamaica
Tourism seems to bounce big in March
Jamaica’s tourism industry is bouncing back at a better pace than is generally known. Data on passenger movements through the country’s two major international airports show a fall of 51 percent compared to March 2020, but that is a major improvement over the 78 percent decline in the first two months this year.
Admittedly, last years’ March numbers were negatively affected by the closure of the country’s borders on March 21, but the absolute numbers travelling in March is up substantially over both January and February this year, a sign of an improving market. With the country’s borders closed in the 2020 period, there were virtually no visitors entering the country until the end of May last year.
According to data from Aeroportuario del Pacifico, that manages many of Mexico’s airports and those in Montego Bay and Kingston, Jamaica, show the total number of passenger movements through the Kingston Airport falling 49.7 percent in March 2021 to 36,700 passenger movements, from 72,900 movements in March 2020. For the first three months of 2021, total passenger movements through Kingston’s Airport fell 67.4 percent, from 354,700 in 2020 to 115,500.
A better gauge of the rebound is the month over month change, with total passenger movements in March 2021 being up 22 percent over the 30,100 passenger movements in February this year. Kingston is not the main entrant or departure point for tourist visiting.
Montego Bay Airport saw a fall in the number of passenger movements of 50.5 percent in March 2021, from 261,500 in March 2020 to 129,400 in March this year. For the first three months of 2021, total passenger movements for the Montego Bay Airport fell 73 percent, from 1,133,900 in 2020 to just 304,600. The total number of passenger movements in March 2021 was, however, 71 percent more than the 75,600 handled in February 2021, an indication of a strong recovery trend.