by Brian Major
Last updated: 2:30 PM ET, Fri May 3, 2024
Posting near double-digit resort and cruise visitor growth to
date in 2024, Jamaica is positioned to reach government officials’ prediction
of five million annual visitors within four years rather than the five years projected
earlier, said Edmund Bartlett, the country’s tourism minister.
This year “began with a bang,” Bartlett said, as overnight,
land-based vacationers totaled 2.96 million travelers to date, a 9.4 percent
increase over 2023. Meanwhile, 2024 cruise ship arrivals totaled 1.34 million
visitors, up nine percent over 2023.
“The industry has enjoyed a record-breaking year,
surpassing all industry experts’ expectations,” Bartlett said in an April 30 parliamentary
address reviewing the tourism industry’s 2024 performance.
“Jamaica now set to achieve its target of five million
visitors in four years instead of the five years projected,” he said.
During this year’s winter travel season between January and
April, 85 percent of the 1,523,202 airline seats available to Jamaica were filled, a load
factor that equaled a record set in 2019, Bartlett said.
Jamaica’s visitor growth was driven by airline capacity
increases from the U.S., the country’s largest source market, Bartlett added.
“The U.S. maintained a majority stake in the overall market
with a 74 percent share of total arrivals, outperforming 2022 by 16 percentage
points,” he said. Meanwhile, Canada experienced “remarkable” growth of 38.6 percent
over 2023, Bartlett added.
New Resorts
Jamaica’s resort base is expanding to accommodate its tourism growth, Bartlett
said. The country will add 2,000 new hotel rooms this year, including the 753-room
Riu Palace Aquarelle, scheduled to open May 4 in Trelawny district.
Grand Palladium is among the Jamaica resorts slated to expand within the year. (Photo by Brian Major)
Later this month, the first 1,000 rooms of the Princess
Grand Jamaica in Green Island, Hanover will open, Bartlett said during the parliamentary
address, while a 450-room Unico Hotel will launch in Montego Bay next summer.
Construction starting dates and development plans are expected
to be announced shortly for “thousands more resort rooms,” he added.
These include Grand Palladium’s 1,000-room expansion in
Hanover, the building of a 1,000-room Viva Wyndham’s property north of Negril,
a new 700-room Secrets resort and the construction of a 1,100-room Hard Rock
Hotels resort in Montego Bay.
Additionally, Bahia Principe is undertaking “a multi-faceted
expansion project to include villas, condos, hotel rooms, a PGA-certified golf
course, a fishing village and housing for tourism workers,” in St. Ann parish, said
Bartlett, who is projecting the country will add 20,000 new resort rooms within
10 to 15 years.
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