Bounce in tourist arrivals to Jamaica

September 8, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Passenger traffic increased 2.8 percent for Kingston’s Norman Manley International airport, in August over the similar 2025 period, while Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport recorded a decline by 23 percent, for the same. For Montego Bay, the decline reflects an improvement over July that suffered a fall of 26.6 percent, but with a greater passenger count than in August this year.

The number of passengers  travelling via the Sangster International Airport was 344,600, down from 447,400 last year August. For the year to date, 2.63 million passed through the island’s north western airport, 26.2 percent below last year of 3.56 million passengers.

Kingston’s Norman Manley had 205,100 passengers passing through the airport in August, up from 199,200 last year. For the first eight months of the year traffic slipped 1.6 percent to 1.253 million versus 1.273 million in 2025.

The data is published by Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, operators of the Jamaica’s two major airports.

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Tourist traffic improvement continues for Jamaica

June 12, 2026 by
Tourist traffic transiting Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport shows a modest improvement in May compared with April, with a fall of 19 percent compared with 22 percent for April, this year over 2025, data released by Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico show.

Traffic through Kingston’s Norman Manley International Airport dropped by 5.2 percent to 138,700 passengers in May this year, from 146,300 in May 2025. The decline in May compares favourably with a 6 percent fall in April this year, compared with 2025.
For the Year to May, the Montego Bay airport processed 27.3 percent less passengers than last year, with 1,573,000 passing through, versus 2,164,800 in 2025, an improvement over the 29.2 percent fall up to April.
The capital city ended with 699,200 passengers, moving through the Norman Manley International Airport, with a fall of 4.1 percent to 729,300 versus 3.1 percent up to April this year.

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Jamaica’s tourism continues to rebound

May 12, 2026 by
Tourist traffic through Jamaica’s largest airport, Montego Bay’s Sangster International,  dropped 22 percent in April this year, to 335.600 from 430,400 passengers in 2025, with a year to date drop of 29.2 percent to 1,252,900 from 1,769,400 passengers last year, data released by Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico, operators of Jamaica’s two largest airports, show.

The April numbers represent an improvement over the 25.7 percent fall in March, this year, as well as for the year to date, with a decline for the three months to March of 31 percent. The numbers represent incoming and outgoing passengers and locally based Jamaicans, although not the actual number of tourist traffic, the data provides an accurate proxy for the sector’s performance. Data collated by the Jamaica Tourist Board on the industry are unfortunately only released to the public several months in arrears.

Traffic through Kingston’s Norman Manley dropped 6 percent to 145,700 from 155,000 last and for the year to date it slipped 3.9 percent, from 583,000 to 560,500. Year to date, 414,800 passengers, moved through the country’s capital international airport, with a fall of 3.1 percent versus 428,000 for the same period in 2025.

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Jamaica tourist arrivals bouncing back

April 9, 2026 by
Tourism traffic to Jamaica continues to improve since the passage of Melissa in late 2025, with Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay showing a decline in March of 25.7 percent, with 358,400 passengers passing through the Montego Bay airport compared to 482,600 in 2025, data released by Grrupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico show.

Kingston Norman Manley Airport has started to reveal positive numbers with a margianal one percent improvement for March, with 140,600 passengers passing through the airport versus 139,200 in the 2025 period and year to date, 414,800 passengers, down 3.1 percent versus 428,000 for the same period in 2025.

The decline in March compares with 31.4 percent fall in February and 34.7 percent for the first two months of the year for Montego Bay and a decline of 2.2 percent for Kingston for February and 5.1 percent for the year to date in February.

Jamaica is not the only destination showing a sharp decline in March for international travel, Mexico Tijuana is down by 16 percent and Puerto Vallarta, a decline of 32 percent.

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Jamaica’s tourism traffic bounces 17%

March 9, 2026 by
Tourist traffic through Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport, bounced 17 percent in February over January, this year, with Kingston’s Norman Manley airport also recording a rise over January, data released by Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico operators of both ports of entry, reveal.

The Montego Bay airport processed 274,500 incoming and outgoing passengers, down by 31.4 percent from 400,100 in 2025, representing a 17 percent improvement over the 37.7 percent decline for January.  For the year to date, traffic dropped 34.7 percent to 559,000 from 856,300 in the prior year.
The decline for Kingston was moderate, with only a 2.1 percent slippage to 119,200 passengers from 121,900 in 2025 and for the year to date, traffic through the Norman Manley airport dipped 5.1 percent year to date, to 274,200 versus 288,900 in 2025.

In December last year, traffic through both airports dropped by 43.8 percent in the case of Montego Bay and Kingston, 2.7 percent, with the latest data showing an accelerated rebound.

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Tourist arrivals plunged sharply in January

February 8, 2026 by
Three months after Hurricane Melissa ravaged western Jamaica, international Terminal Passengers passing through Montego Bay Sangster’s International Airport fell, a sharp 37.7 percent from 456,200 last year January, to only 284.200 this year.

At the same time, Kingston’s Norman Manley international airport saw a 7.2 percent fall over the same period with 155,000 passengers, down from 167,000 last year, data released on traffic by Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, operator of both airports, shows.

Montego Bay’s January numbers improved slightly over December, last year, which declined by a much sharper 43.8 percent from 467,400 to 262,600 and Kingston with a decline of just 2.7 percent to 172,200 from 177,100.

The decline means that the country lost around US100 million net in December and January.
The Jamaican airports were not the only ones to experience sizable declines, albeit not as severe as in January. Tijuana fell nearly 11 percent and Manzanillo in Mexico slipped 11 percent.

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Dive in October tourist traffic

November 12, 2025 by
Jamaica suffered a sizable fall in tourism traffic in October, with Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport decreasing by 17.6 percent, while Kingston’s Norman Manley Airports declined by 13 percent, due to the impacts of Hurricane Melissa, Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, operators of Sangster International and Norman Manley airports, stated in their latest release on travel for October.

In October, this year just 263,000 passengers passed through Sangster International Airport, a sharp fall from 319,200 last year. Passenger traffic dropped to 121.400 at the Norman Manley Airport compared with 139,600 in 2024.

The October performance contributed to a drop of 2.5 percent in Sangster International Airport for the year to October to 4.11 million from 4.216 million in 2024. Despite the decline in October this year, the Norman Manley Airport maintained the positive performance year to date, with a rise of 4.6 percent to 1.53 million passengers from 1.465 million last year.

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Flat tourists traffic to Jamaica

October 16, 2025 by
Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport handled marginally fewer passengers in September this year than it did in 2024. According to data Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, operators of Jamaica’s two leading airports, Montego Bay traffic slipped to 285,600 in 2025 from 286,600 in September last year.

At the same time, traffic passing through Kingston Norman Manley slipped marginally from 137,800 in September last year to 137,400.
Sangster International Airport had 1.3 percent fewer passengers, at 3.847 million, down from the 3.897 million last year. The 9 months’ performance for Montego Bay is a major improvement over March, with a fall of 7.7 percent for the month and 8.1 percent for the year to March.

Norman Manley Airport enjoyed a 6.3 percent jump to 1.4106 million passengers for the nine months to September from 1.3273 million in 2024.

The numbers for the Ian Fleming airport is not included.

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Jamaica tourism back on growth path

September 16, 2025 by
Tourist traffic passing through Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport increased 5.3% in August, compared to August 2024, according to data released by Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, operators of the Montego Bay and Kingston international airports reported.

According to the airport operators, 447,300 passengers were processed by Sangster International Airport in August this year, up from 424,800 in August last year. The gains in the last 8 months virtually wipes out the losses in the early months of the year, with 3.5615 million passengers, a 1.4 percent fall, compared to the 3.6105 million for the similar period in 2024.

Traffic passing through Kingston’s Norman Manley Airport was flat with 199,000 in both periods, while year-to-date, traffic rose 7.2% to 1.2723 million from 1.1873 million in 2024.

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Tourist arrivals to Jamaica steady in June

July 7, 2025 by
Passenger traffic coming into Jamaica in June was likely stable compared to June 2024, data released by Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, the operators of Sangster and Norman Manley International Airports, suggests.

Passengers traffic passing through Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay during June this year fell by 8,500, a fall of 1.9 percent, with 438,900 incoming and outgoing passengers compared to 447,400 in June 2024.

The Montego Bay fall was almost fully made up by Kingston’s increase of 7,700 passengers, an increase of 5.3 percent to 152,200 from 144,500 in 2024. Passenger traffic through Boscobel’s Fleming International Airport, with daily arrivals from the USA in 2025 compared with twice-weekly service last year, is not in the above numbers. Boscobel’s passenger traffic could result in an overall increase in arrivals to the country in June.
For the six months to June, 5.1 percent or 138,700 fewer passengers passed through the Montego Bay airport, with 2.6 million passengers, down from 2.74 million in 2024.  The Montego Bay fall was well short of the increase of 79,900 passengers in Kingston, which increased 8.6 percent to 881,700 from 811,800.

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