Tourism Minister Upbeat about Winter Season

Minister of Tourism and Entertainment, Hon. Dr. Wykeham McNeill, said that from all indications, the 2015/16 winter season, which started on December 15, is going to be another good one for Jamaica.

“The forward bookings are very positive,” the Minister said at a JIS Think Tank today (Dec.17).

Dr. McNeill said that over 60,000 new airline seats are expected to come into the island for the winter, with over 50,000 of these coming from the United States of America (USA). Additional flights are also expected  from Canada, the United Kingdom (UK) among other countries.

“These will be beneficial to the visitors as well as members of the Diaspora, who will want to come home for the Christmas period,” he pointed out.

Minister McNeill said that another positive going into the season is the unprecedented level of upgrading and development within the sector over the last two years.

There are 2,500 new hotel rooms under construction to be added to the numerous upgraded properties, to facilitate the expected increase in visitor arrivals for the winter.

Meanwhile, Minister McNeill noted that 2015 has been a good year, with arrivals up by 5.5 per cent during the period January to September.

“We were up by over 100,000 more cruise ship visitors than we had last year,” he informed.