For all the country’s internal challenges linked mostly to domestic crime and the negative international press associated with the phenomenon, Jamaica continues to be one of CARICOM territories of choice for international tourists and successive political administrations in Kingston, the country’s capital continue to back its tourism industry as one of the main bulwarks of the country’s economy.
With tourist numbers last year topping four million visitors and spending estimated at US$3.3 billion, Jamaica’s Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett is sufficiently confident that the sector is on track to do better this year to have announced at his review, a week ago, of the sector’s mid-season performance that he would be engaging in a series of meetings with local bankers in order to persuade them that the sector is deserving of their backing in terms of credit.
A measure of Jamaica’s high international rating insofar as Caribbean destinations of choice are concerned is to be seen in the staggering 900,000 stopover visitors it received between January 1 and February 27 this year, which numbers, according to a recent Jamaica Gleaner Report says do not include cruise ship visitors. Overall stopover numbers for this year so far are up 14 per cent year over year while average spending per room was reportedly pegged at a five-year high with room rates of US$500 to US$800 per night being the current norm.
