TravelPulse Canada was on hand this week at JAPEX in Montego Bay, the annual product exchange conference where tourism suppliers, both large and small, have the opportunity to interact and do business with travel wholesalers and buyers. The event saw 81 buyer companies with 117 delegates - an increase over 2018 and 91 companies with over 220 delegates.

Travel and tourism is a huge business globally. Information from the Planning Institute of Jamaica show that tourism is Jamaica’s largest earner of foreign exchange and second largest employer in the country. I am pleased to share that tourism is again poised to achieve year on year growth in stopover arrivals and earnings.

Mr. Donovan White, Director of Tourism, Jamaica Tourist Board provided a detailed overview of current trends and results.

As of August 2019, stopover visitors reached 1.87 million, an increase of 9.1% over 2018. The destination has achieved revenues of US $2.39 billion resulting in 12% growth in earnings from these visitors.

White said “Based on our projections, we forecast an uptick in stop-over arrivals for September to December of 7% or 807,796 visitors, which would end the calendar year 2019 with a total of 2.68 million arrivals – an increase of 8.4% over 2018. The earnings from the full year of stopover arrivals is estimated at US $3.49 billion – an unprecedented 12% increase over 2018.”

Part of the destination’s growth is driven by increase in airlift. In the United States both American Airlines and Delta Airlines are hedging their bets for growth by opening new direct service from New York and Detroit in December 2019. More than 60% of visitors to Jamaica are from the USA, approximately 40% of all visitors from the USA arrive from gateways in the Northeast.

In the UK, Thomas Cook, which started new service from Manchester to Montego Bay in May 2019, is now exploring the possibility of a second weekly flight. The destination has seen interest from two Russian-based carriers intent on operating a Moscow to Montego Bay weekly. The board advised that they are hopeful an announcement will be made soon.

In addition the Jamaican Tourist Board is also in talks with the largest Russian-based tour operator to put a 747 ER plane in the schedule with over 500 seats per rotation. The South American market is poised for growth as well, as LATAM airlines will operate service from Lima, Peru three times weekly starting December 1, 2019.

Mr. White also said that additional hotel rooms being brought online in the coming months and years, will also drive growth for the market.

AC Hotel by Marriott, opened its doors to guests in June 2019 with 220 rooms in Kingston and is a welcomed addition to the capital city.

Half Moon has be quietly expanding their product. An additional 57 rooms and suites have been added. These rooms are suitable for families and small groups.

The RIU in Ocho Rios was closed in May 2019 for a complete refurbishing of its 790 rooms. The hotel will reopen to the public this month with an additional 45 family rooms.

The new Oceans by H10 1000 room property is on schedule to accept its first guests in November 2019, with the opening of the first 500 rooms of this development.

The Government of Jamaica has now finalised the sale of lands in Salem, St. Ann with Hotel Developers from Karisma for the construction of 3000 rooms in several phases. The first of these phases will commence later this year with the construction of 700 rooms.

When asked how Jamaica will position themselves in what is anticipated to be a highly competitive winter season, particularly from the Canadian market, Smith was quick to point out the destination will continue to focus on it strong value proposition to consumers.

“Quality is what visitors to Jamaica have come to expect. It was one of the key reasons that 42% of our arrivals are repeat visitors. For every two visitors we have to Jamaica, almost certainly one will return to us again”

The Canadian market continues to meet expectations, but has not recorded any material growth year over year at this stage.