Declining Tourist arrivals slow in November

December 7, 2024 by
International Terminal Passengers climbed 7.8% at the Kingston’s Norman Manley International Airport in November to 132,800 from 123,200 in the same month in 2023 and for the first 11 months of the year passenger traffic inched 0.5 percent higher to 1.6 million from 1.59 million in 2023, data from Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, operators of the two major international airports in Jamaica disclosed.

Developments for the major tourist entry point into the island continue to be negative, days away from the start of the winter tourist season. For the year to date, traffic declined 2.7 percent to 4.59 million incoming and outgoing passengers from 4.72 million last year, helped by a 7.4 percent drop in November to 373,900 from 403,600 last year. Importantly, the decline has slowed from October, with an 8.8 percent decline and September 11.9 percent.
Some developments were key to the decline, starting in April this year, with a 4.5 percent fall in traffic through Montego Bay. Mentioned was made of travel advisory out of the US market, but importantly, Easter a high level travel time, came in late March in 2024 compared with the start of the second week in April 2023. More importantly, the passage of Hurricane Beryl and continuous rains since and the holding of the elections in the USA would have kept many potential travellers from vacationing until after the high level rains and the November for elections workers.  Importantly, Jamaica was not the only country with falling passenger traffic within the region.

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Tourism growth flounders will hit GDP

July 14, 2024 by

The Jamaican economy is set to suffer a major setback in the second quarter with tourist traffic to the island falling according to preliminary data of visitor traffic through the country’s two international airports.
Passenger traffic through Sangster’s International Airport in Montego Bay in June slipped marginally from 448,500 last year to 447,400 which dragged the six months performance to an increase of just 3.2 percent to 2,742,400 from 2,656,800 in 2023, while Kingston Norman Manley dipped 2.2 percent to 144,400 from 147,700 in 2023, and declined 2.3 percent to 810,600 from 829,500.
While the critical arrivals grew attractively in the first quarter, data released by Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacífico shows Montego Bay enjoying an 8 percent rise with Kingston flat, Montego Bay suffered a 4.2 percent fall in April and was effectively flat in May. Kingston was down7.7 percent in April and 1.1 percent in May. The decline affects the sector and will spill over into support industries such as transportation, agriculture, manufacturing and utilities and also affect communities that cater to the sector.

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Jamaica tourist arrivals hit the skids

June 10, 2024 by

After a robust start to stopover arrivals in the early months of the year, data on passenger traffic passing through Jamaica’s two major international airports declined in May, with passenger traffic passing through the Sangster International Airport slipping from 402,000 in May last year to 401,500, down 0.3 percent.
The airport traffic although not telling the full picture of stopover arrivals, is a good barometer of likely outcomes showing that Sangster International Airport which accounts for around 85 percent of visitor arrivals is up just 3.9 percent to 2,294,800 for the year to date.
This is the second month of decline for Montego Bay that had a 4.2 percent reduction to 435,500 in April from 454,500 for the same period last year, bringing the year to date increase then to 4.8 percent to 1.8928 million.
Traffic through Kingston’s Norman Manley continues the decline since the start of the year, with a fall of 1.1 percent to 139,900 compared to 141,500, with traffic for the first five months of this year, declining by 2.2 percent to 667,300 from 682,300.
The data is taken from a report on airport traffic during May published by Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico operators of Jamaica’s two major airports.

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April’s Jamaica Tourist arrivals drop

May 12, 2024 by

Visitor arrivals dropped 7.7 percent at Kingston’s Norman Manley to 135,100 in April this year from 146,500 in 2023 and down 2.6 percent to 526,500 from 540,600 for the first four months of the year.
Montego Bay Sangster International Airport had a 4.2 percent reduction to 435,500 from 454,500 for the similar period in 2023 and rose 4.8 percent to 1.8928 million from 1.8055 million.
The data was taken from a report on airport traffic during April published by Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico operators of Jamaica’s two major airports.
The monthly decline may be due to a shift in the Easter holiday period to the close of March this year would have pushed stopover traffic with March compared with 2023 with Easter coming at the end of the first week in April.
Note that the numbers represent incoming and outgoing traffic as such actual arrivals would approximate half of the amounts reported above.

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Jamaica’s visitor arrivals climb

February 10, 2024 by

Stopover visitor arrivals into Montego Bay through Sangster International Airport, rose nearly 10 percent in January this year versus last year while activity for the Norman Manley Airport just increased by 1.6 percent over 2023.

Tourists enjoying the Jamaican offerings and helping the sector to a near 9 percent jump in visitors in January 2024.

According to the data released by the operators of Jamaica’s two main international airports, Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico, the Montego Bay based Sangster International Airport handled 9.6 percent more passengers in January this year than it did in 2023. The number of arriving and departing passengers climbed to 491,000 from 449,000 in January 2023, while the Kingston Norman Manley Airport had 1.6 percent more passengers using the airport in January this year, some 148,300, up from 146,000 in January 2023.
The increase is a positive development for Jamaica which relies heavily on the tourist industry for economic development and foreign exchange.

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Jamaica’s tourism rebound slows

November 6, 2023 by

Tourist arrivals to Jamaica continue to grow, but at a much reduced pace than earlier in the year, data for the all important Sangster International Airport shows. Passenger traffic passing through the airport in October grew 10.3 percent, to 350,000, up from 317,000 last year, and is well below the year to date of an increase of nearly 22 percent to 4.3 million passengers versus 3.54 million in the previous year.

Airplanes lined up at Sangster’s International Airport in early 2023.

In the case of Kingston’s, Norman Manley International Airport saw 8.9 percent fewer passengers passing to the island’s second largest airport for a second month, declining to 129,000 passengers passing through compared with 141,200 in 2022, but for the year to date, the airport saw 15.6 percent more passengers passing through than the year before when 1.2 million passed through compared to 1.47 million this year to date.
Data was taken from a  release passenger traffic for the two International Airports operated by Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico.
According to Jamaica Tourist Board data, stopover arrivals to Jamaica for the first six months of this year, the latest period they have so far reported on, were up 26.8 percent over that of 2022 and 6.7 percent above 2019 figures, while for the quarterly to June, arrivals were up 13.6 percent over 2022 and just 9.9 percent over that of 2019.

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Tourism recovery continues for Jamaica

September 7, 2023 by

touristThe recovery of tourist traffic to Jamaica from the closure of the industry in 2020, continues robustly with early data showing Montego Bay enjoying a 15.5 percent bounce in passenger movements through the Sangster International Airport, with 469,700 passenger passing through that airport in August this year, compared with 405,800 in 2022 with a 24.4 percent jump for the year to date to 3.64 million, up from 2,925 in 2022 for the same period.
Traffic in August for Kingston was up just 6 percent to 195,600 compared with 184,600 in 2022 and is up 21.7 percent to 1.207 million from 991,700 in 2022. Data was taken from the release of traffic for the various airports operated by Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico, who are operators of both Jamaican Airports.
Traffic to Jamaica is up 15 percent over 2019, the last full year with no disruption with some 406,993 passengers passing through the Sangster Airport while Kingston is 5.4 down on the 205,860 passengers in 2019. Sangster’s, with 3.41 million passing through the airport just under 7 percent ahead of 2019 and the 1.33 million traversing the Kingston down 9 percent below the 2019 numbers.
Passenger movements represent incoming and outgoing passengers, roughly half represent incoming, with those passing through Sangster’s representing the majority of visitors to the island as such it provides a good proxy for stopover visitor arrivals to the country.

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Sharp jump in tourist arrivals in July

August 18, 2023 by

Visitor arrival numbers passing through the Montego Bay Sangster International Airport jumped sharply by 19.4 percent to 513,700 in July this year compared with 430.400 in 2022, Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, operators of both local international airports reported.
The July 2023 numbers also jumped 15 percent over the 447,934 passengers using the airport in July 2019, the last year that the data was not affected by the disruption to the industry by Cocid19 pandemic. Passenger traffic through the Montego Bay Airport, for the year to date, is up a solid 25.8 percent to 3.17 million in 2023, over 2.52 million in 2022 and nearly 6 percent up on the 2.998 million in 2019.
Data from Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico also revealed that Kingston had a 2.9 percent increase in traffic to 181,700 from 176,600 in July 2022 and a 13 percent jump on the 204,948 that passed through the system in July 2019. For 2023 to date, 25.3 percent more passengers used the airport facilities to hit 1.011 million from 807,200 in 2022, but 5 percent less than the 1.06 million in 2019.

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Tourist arrivals continue to rise for Jamaica

July 8, 2023 by

Tourist arrivals continue to rise for Jamaica, with preliminary data showing an increase in June and the year to date compared with last year and 2019, the last year with uninterrupted movement of visitors prior to the current year, data put out by Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico, operators of both of the country’s major international airports in Jamaica, show.
touristMontego Bay’s Sangster International Airport handled 448,500 passengers, an increase of 14.1 percent over the 393,100 passengers processed in June 2022 and for the six months to June, 2,656,800 travellers, 27.2 percent more than 2.09 million in 2022. Kingston’s Norman Manley International Airport processed 147,7000 passengers, an increase of 13.5 percent over the 130,200 passengers in June 2022 and for the six months to June, 829,500 travellers, 31.5 percent more than 630,600 in 2022.
Compared to 2019, the last year with uninterrupted business, Sangster Airport handled 4 percent more than 2019 and Normal Manley 3 percent less than in 2019, for an average increase of 2.2 percent.
The latest data out of the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) shows that stopover arrivals are up just 3.6 percent over 2019 for the first three months of 2023 and up 43.8 percent over 2022 to 733,982 arrivals. The JTB report for 2022 shows stopover arrivals up 78 percent in the June quarter compared with 2021 but down 3.3 percent compared with 2019, representing a significant improvement over the 28 percent decline in the first quarter compared with that of 2019.
Cruise travel was flat in March, according to JTB data, compared with 2019, but up 261 percent over March 2022. Cruise arrivals for the three months period are up 382 percent over 2022 to 477,502 visitors but down 24 percent compared with 2019.

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