By Latonya Linton
KINGSTON, Jamaica, (JIS) – Jamaica is expected to welcome 1.5 million visitors by December 31 (calendar year), with estimated earnings of US$1.9 billion, noted director of tourism, Donovan White, at a Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) media briefing, held at Moon Palace Resort in St Ann, on November 10.
“What we have seen is an uptick in the length of stay of visitors to the destination, since we reopened, from 7.1 days to eight days. We have also seen an uptick in the average visitor spend from US$169 per day per visitor to US$180. This is what has allowed us to forecast our revenue projections to just under US$2 billion for the calendar year,” White said.
“This means that for the first time, our destination earnings are beginning to outpace arrivals, which is a good thing. This has also allowed us to re-forecast where we believe the destination will return to pre-COVID levels of performance, and we see that happening round about third quarter of 2023,” he added.
White said it is expected that by the end of 2023, Jamaica will welcome 4.1 million visitors, split between 2.5 million stopovers and 1.6 million cruise passengers, with a revenue out-turn of about US$4.2 billion in earnings.
“[In] 2019, we [had] 4.2 million visitors, and US$3.7 billion in earnings. So, go forward to 2023, where we are saying 4.1 million visitors, but US$4.2 billion in earnings. So, there’s an uptick of about half a billion dollars in earnings that we anticipate, and this is coming from what we’re seeing in the average spend per visitor as well as the length of stay,” he noted.
Meanwhile, the tourism director said the JTB will continue to work with the relevant stakeholders to ensure that “we continue to foster this growth as we look forward to a brighter outlook on the future”.
