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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Jamaica Tourist arrivals settling  

June 10, 2025 by
Passengers passing through the Montego Bay, Sangster International Airport in May 2025, is showing signs of improvement, with 395,400 incoming and outgoing passengers, a fall of just 1.6 percent from the 401,700 in 2024. Year to date, a decline of 5.7 percent took place, with a total pass through of 2,164,800 passengers, down from 2,295,000 in 2024.

Kingston Normal Manley Airport, the smaller of the two, continues to lead with an increase of 4.8 percent in May, to 146,300 versus 139,700 in May 2024 and an increase of 9.5 percent year to date, with 729,300 passengers up from 666,200 in 2024. The increased traffic in May amounts to 6,600 passengers, more than the 5,300 decline in Montego Bay.  

The preliminary terminal passenger traffic figures were released by Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, operators of both airports.

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Jamaica’s tourist arrivals up in April?

May 9, 2025 by
Tourist arrivals to Jamaica showed promising signs for April and may have bounced for the first time in 2025, compared with 2024, data recently released on airport traffic for that month by Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, operators of Jamaica’s two largest airports show.

The preliminary data show passenger traffic for April 2025, through Kingston’s Norman Manley, enjoying a solid 14.5 percent rise from 135,400 to 155,000, while it climbed 10.6 percent for the year to date to 583,100, from 527,400 in the prior year.
While at the Montego Bay Sangster International Airport, the heavy bleeding may be ending with a minute decline of 1.3 percent from 435,900 in 2024 to 430,400 and a fall of 6.5 percent to 1,769,400 from 1,893,200 last year.

The shift of Easter coming well into April compared with the end of March in 2024 would have played a big role in the improvement this time year.

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Pressure not easing on Jamaica’s tourism

April 8, 2025 by
Jamaica’s tourism sector continues to experience downward pressure for the third month this year, according to data released by Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, operators of the country’s major airports.

According to the company, preliminary data of terminal passenger traffic showed a 7.7 percent decline for March 2025, resulting in 40,000 fewer incoming and outgoing passengers, with 482,600 passengers passing through the airport, compared with 522,800 in March 2024. The much smaller Norman Manley International Airport had a 7.7 percent increase of 10,000 passengers to 139,200 from 129,300 in 2023.

For the year to March, Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport processed 129,000 fewer passengers than for the same period last year, with a total of 1,338,900 this year compared with 1,457,300 for the similar period in 2024. The Norman Manley Airport saw 9.4 percent more travelers or 37,600 passing through the airport than in 2023 when 391,400 passed through compared with 428,000 in March this year.

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Jamaica’s tourist arrivals drop in February

March 8, 2025 by
Passenger traffic passing through Kingston Norman Manley International Airport continues to record increases over last year, rising 7.1 percent in February, with 121,900 international travellers passing through the airport, from 113,800 in 2024.

Passenger traffic passing through Kingston’s Norman Manley Airport for January and February rose 10.2 percent to 288,900 from 262,100 in 2024 for similar months last year, data released by Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico operators of Jamaica’s two major airports show. Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport continues to bleed, with a drop of 9.6 percent from 442,600 passengers in 2024 to 400,300 with the year to date declining 8.4 percent to 856,500 from 934,500 in 2024. February marks the 9th month of decline since April last year, with data from the Jamaica Tourist Board showing less than a percent rise in May and October.

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Bad news for Jamaica’s tourism sector

February 8, 2025 by
The much heralded bounce in tourism traffic into Jamaica never occurred in January, with traffic down compared with last year for the same period according to data released by Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico operators of Jamaica’s two major international airports. Passenger traffic through Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport, the major gateway into Jamaica decreased 7.3 percent, compared to January 2024.

In the meantime, Kingston’s Norman Manley airport enjoyed a solid 12.6 percent bounce to 167,000 passengers from 148,300 in 2024. The increase was not enough to offset the sizable fall in the country’s second city.
Sangster International accounted for 456,200, down from 491,900 last year, for a decline of 35,700 or around 18,000 visitors. Montego Bay would have seen a drop with Bascobel being serviced by daily flights out of Miami that would still not be a major factor in the decline.
The decline in January is worse than the 5.6 percent fall in December, with 467,400 passengers versus 495,000 in 2023, while Kingston slipped in 2025 from a 13.8 percent increase in December, last year to 177,400 versus 155,900 in 2023. The decline in January if it continues into other months will ripple through the Jamaican economy and linkage sectors and those dependent on them.
Passenger traffic represents incoming and outgoing individuals passing through the airports, with the monthly movements giving a strong indication of changes in tourism visitor arrivals.

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More declines for Jamaica Tourism

November 10, 2024 by
Tourist numbers continue to deteriorate in Jamaica with passenger traffic passing through the critically important Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, falling a significant 8.8 percent in October to 319,300 from 350,000 in 2023.

For the capital city of Kingston, traffic passing through the Norman Manley airport rose a solid 8.5 percent to 139,600 from 128,700 in October 2023 and for the year to date a decline of 0.2 percent from 1,467,600 to 1,464,500 in October, this year.  experienced a year to date decline by 2.2  percent from 4,313,200 passenger traffic in October 2023 to 4,216,400 with just two more months left in the year, data from Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico operators of the two major international airports in Jamaica reveal in their preliminary data release.

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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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