In December 2017, cruise passenger arrivals to Jamaic grew by 14 percent and stop-over arrivals were also up 9.3 percent, when compared to the same period in 2016.
Minister of Tourism for Jamaica, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, said newly-released figures from the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) for December 2017, highlight that Jamaica’s tourism product continues to see record-breaking growth in visitor arrivals.
“We have been placing a lot of focus on the development and improvement of our cruise industry. I am very proud to see the results of our efforts. I am especially pleased that the total cruise arrivals included arrivals from less popular ports – Kingston and Port Antonio. Port Antonio welcomed 984 passengers and Kingston welcomed 4,162 visitors,” said Minister Bartlett.
According to the data, Jamaica welcomed a total of 208,212 passengers from 74 cruise ship calls. Significant increases were seen from Falmouth Port, which is up 17.6 percent, with 94,090 passengers from 21 cruise ship calls. Ocho Rios port also saw an increase of 21.6 percent, with 56,211 passengers from 20 cruise ship calls.
Stop-over arrivals are also up by 9.3 percent, with another record total of 251,800 arrivals for December 2017, when compared to the same period in 2016.
“Our highest increase for December came from the Latin American market, which is up by 27 percent with a total of 3,001 arrivals. However, we continue to consistently perform from our key markets – USA and Europe,” said the Minister.
He added that USA is up 9.4 percent, with 156,660 arrivals – with the highest increase seen from the Southern States. The country also welcomed 33,662 stop-over visitors from Europe, which represents an increase of 9 percent.
“When first re-elected as Tourism Minister, I noticed a significant decrease in the Canadian market. We had to put special strategies in place to ensure that this was quickly addressed. I am proud to say that our rescue package has proved successful and our latest figures show that Canada is up 10.5 percent,” said the Minister.
