Two and a half months after the end of June the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) is just reporting stopover arrivals for that month, that came in at 166,046 visitors, this compares with 160,000 this publication suggested in its July report.
By now the public ought to know how many visitors came into the country for July and possibly August. The long delay in reporting the data is unacceptable. The JTB needs to switch the manner of reporting by releasing the arrival numbers shortly after each month finishes and then release the full analysis at a later time.
At the same time, ICInsider.com had indicated that the numbers for July were set to end up around 170,000, but based on the outturn for June it is now likely to be 180,000 stopover arrivals or 67 percent of July 2019 arrivals, that saw 270,462 stopover arrivals. Arrivals for last year were just 41,941 in July and 43,813 in August shortly after the country reopened its borders. The latest available data suggest that August arrivals will be around 170,000 or 79 percent of the 214,780 stopover arrivals in 2019.
Tourism is one of Jamaica’s major earners and employers of labour. A lot rides on the fortunes of this sector and Jamaicans need timely and up to date information for planning and decision making. It cannot be that the JTB sits on valuable information while the rest of the society has to wait at their pleasure to release the data.
Tourist arrivals eyeing 80% of 2019 numbers
Jamaica Tourism arrivals jump 39%
Stopover visitor arrivals to Jamaica appear set to increase by 40 percent over May numbers, data compiled from reports of passenger arrivals disclosed by the Sangster International Airport suggest. According to the data, 39 percent more passenger arrivals came into the country in June compared to May this year.
May saw a 44 percent spike in passenger arrivals through the airport for the second city of the country over April, an indication that visitor arrivals should hit 105,000 in May, up from 82,702 in April. June arrivals through the airport, topped 142,000 for the first time since the industry opened up for foreign visitors in June last year. June this year ended with 142,727 arrivals for the month, amounting to 61 percent of the June 2019 numbers of 239,000.
Aircrafts arriving in the country, rose by 5.8 percent in June to 2,490 compared to a 15 percent increase in May with 2,353 units over April, with the trend showing increased passenger load.
July is set to see the total visitors breaking the 200,000 mark for an increase of 40 percent putting it to 76 percent of the July 2019 influx of 270,462.
August could see the industry coming back to the 2019 levels and may well exceed it and possibly suggest full recovery for the industry.
The latest Jamaica Tourist data published is only for April and was published for the public’s use on June 17, more than a month and a half after the month closed. The data for February was even worse coming out on April 27, nearly two months after the close of the month reported on.
