Bartlett Forecasts Record Arrivals for Summer

As the country’s tourism sector continues on a steady growth path, Minister of Tourism, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, says the summer arrival figures are shaping up to be the highest on record.

Visitor arrivals have been at an all-time high since the start of the year, with the country welcoming a historic one million tourists in June.

Addressing a ceremony at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay on Monday (July 3) to welcome the inaugural Eurowings non-stop flight from Germany, Minister Bartlett said the “arrivals figures for this summer are very good and, if sustained, the final figures will take the industry to new heights”.

“We are (gearing up) to increase our seats… by over seven per cent for the summer, and if that can translate itself into a percentage increase in arrivals… Jamaica is on to a very good path,” he said.

“We are getting more rooms, we are getting more airlifts, we are getting more visitors, and we are earning more,” he added.

Meanwhile, Minister Bartlett, who was joined by tourism stakeholders in welcoming the Eurowing direct flight, said arrivals from Germany have been growing steadily.

“Since the start of the year, January to April, we welcomed over 9,800 German visitors to the island, and that represents a 24 per cent over last year. We are excited about the figures at the end of June and we have a strong feeling that this 9,800 will get close to 12,000,” he noted.

Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer of MBJ Airports Limited, Dr. Rafael Echevarne, said he is happy that Eurowings has added Sangster to its itinerary.

The Eurowings flight took some 291 passengers from Cologne into Montego Bay. The airline will be making two flights each week into Sangster up to the end of October.

Dr. Echevarne said it is a positive move to have a direct flight into Jamaica from Germany.

“This new flight adds a demographic of travellers to Jamaica who will not only stay on the island longer, but definitely spend more while they are here,” he pointed out.
Eurowings is part of the Lufthansa group, which is Germany’s largest airline and also the largest in Europe in terms of fleet size.

It operates services to 18 domestic and 197 international destinations in 78 countries across Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe, using a fleet of more than 270 aircraft.