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.
Montego 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.
Tourist arrivals continue to rise for Jamaica
July 8, 2023 by