Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett has set a new target to welcome 250,000 visitors out of the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland by 2025.
This follows on the heels of Jamaica being the number one Caribbean destination among UK visitors last year. "Jamaica welcomed two hundred and twenty-nine thousand UK visitors last year, making it the number destination in the Caribbean for British visitors, and we plan to aggressively build on this number,” said Minister Bartlett.
“With additional airlift with the upcoming Norse flights next month along with our other long standing airline partners, I am confident we will be able to meet this target". The announcement was made at an exclusive media event held at the Jamaica stand at World Travel Market (WTM) in London.
Bartlett is accompanied by Chair of the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) John Lynch and Senior Advisor and Strategist in the Ministry of Tourism, Delano Seiveright. WTM London, one of the world’s largest tourism trade shows, facilitates £2.8 billion in industry deals and has attracted some 5,000 exhibitors from 182 countries and regions and more than 51,000 participants.
The new Norse Atlantic Airways service to Montego Bay is scheduled to begin in December, operating four times a week from London Gatwick. The island is already easily accessible from the United Kingdom through daily nonstop flights provided by Virgin Atlantic Airways departing from London Heathrow, British Airways departing from London Gatwick, and TUI departing from Birmingham, London Gatwick, and Manchester.
Elizabeth Fox, Regional Director, UK and Nordics, Jamaica Tourist Board, said: "We are truly grateful to be number one in the Caribbean for British travellers, and it is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the team.
“With this new target, it means pushing even more to achieve this goal and retain the number one spot". In the first half of 2023, Jamaica witnessed a significant increase in arrivals from the UK with a remarkable 69.2% surge in overall visitor arrivals compared to 2021.
This growth has resulted in record-breaking earnings exceeding US$2 billion. The island is poised to welcome over 3 million visitors by the end of the year with foreign exchange earnings of an impressive US$4.2 billion.
