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.
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.