Tourist arrivals to Jamaica are up solidly for the year to November with an increase, of around 20 percent, but the rate of growth has slowed considerably since April with an increase in stopover arrivals of 14 percent compared with 28 percent in March and 44 percent for the first quarter. By July the rate of growth dropped to 12 percent for the month as growth starts returning to more sustainable levels.
Recent data emanating out of Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay shows 403,600 passengers being handled in November, 7.3 percent more than the 376,100 handled in November 2022, with the pace of growth down from 10.3 percent in October and the Kingston Airport processing 123,000 passengers, 6.6 percent fewer than the 131,700 handled in November 2022. Passenger activity in Kingston declined for a third consecutive month with October down 8.9 percent compared with October 2022.
For the first eleven months of 2023, the Montego Bay Airport processed 20.4 percent more passengers, with 3,918,900 being handled in 2022 moving to 4,716,800 in 2023. Total passenger movements grew by 13.5 percent at the Norman Manley International Airport from 1,402,300 in 2022 to 1,592,000 in the first eleven months of 2023.