Tourism Minister Thanks US Travel Agents

Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, has acknowledged United States (US) travel agents for the important role they play in promoting and selling Jamaica as a tourist destination.

“Jamaica appreciates all that you do to book your clients to the destination. We are grateful to each and every one of our valued travel professional partners for the business you continue to send our way,” he said.

The Tourism Minister was addressing a luncheon hosted by the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) to honour top travel agents from Baltimore and Philadelphia held at McCormick & Schmick’s restaurant, downtown Baltimore, on Friday (April 12).

Minister Bartlet told the approximately 20 travel agents that “each one of you has helped our tourism sector to thrive and grow, and for that I can’t thank you enough”.

He noted that the majority of the bookings into Jamaica are made by travel agents and tour operators, adding that approximately 70 per cent of all visitors to the island are from the US, which is the island’s largest source market.

He said that Jamaica’s tourist industry has continued to grow and is now seeing visitor arrivals and earnings exceeding pre-pandemic levels.

“For 2023, our data indicates that we welcomed approximately 4 million visitors to our shores with gross foreign exchange earnings of approximately US$4.2 billion, which is nearly 18 per cent above earnings posted in 2019,” he informed.

Minister Bartlett said that stopover arrivals accounted for approximately 70 per cent of total visitor arrivals, amounting to 2.98 million persons, representing an increase of 16.7 per cent over 2022 and 7.9 per cent over 2019.

More than 2.1 million of the stopover arrivals were from the US market, which marked an increase of 15.2 per cent over 2022 and 16.1 per cent over 2019.

Mr. Bartlett said he was pleased that Jamaica had broken another barrier by welcoming one million visitors and earning one billion dollars in gross foreign exchange earnings during the first two months of 2024.

“We have experienced a remarkable peak winter season, so far… as people from our key source markets, especially the US and Canada, come to escape the cold for a warm-weather holiday,” the Minister said.